José Maria Berzosa (15 August 1928 – 2 January 2018) was a
Spanish television director who lived the most part of his life auto–exiled in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.
His documentaries are characterized by having the humor of
Luis Buñuel and the erudition of
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...
. His work details objectivity ideas in favor of staging (even when he films «the real» and claims creative subjectivity).
One of his most important productions was «Chile Impresiones» (1976), a documentary for French television whose purpose was to discredit the international image of
Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, the ''de facto'' administration that denied violation of human rights in the name of order and depoliticization. The novelty of said filming consists in having denounced the situation under a methodology that mixed mockery with intimate daily life, that is, through (that the three generals, except for
Gustavo Leigh
Air General Gustavo Leigh Guzmán (September 19, 1920 – September 29, 1999) was a Chilean general, who represented the Air Force in the 1973 Chilean coup d'état and, for a time, in the ruling junta that followed. Leigh was forced out of th ...
partially, did not know how to answer) made by Berzosa based on ontological themes like
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
and
aesthetics
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...
about
happiness
Happiness, in the context of Mental health, mental or emotional states, is positive or Pleasure, pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishin ...
,
ethics
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...
or
art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
. Chilean
Military Junta generals would only discovered Berzosa's attack once the documentary was published.
Biography
Born in
Albacete
Albacete (, also , ; ar, ﭐَلبَسِيط, Al-Basīṭ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete.
Lying in the south-ea ...
, he was a film critic during his youth in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
. However, in 1956, he decided to leave the
Iberian country for political reasons that involved clash of
francoism censorship towards his potential professional development.
He died on 2 January 2018 aged 89.
Works
* 1959: Les Cinq Dernières Minutes de Claude Loursais.
* 1967: ''Le Musée de Sèvres''
* 1967: ''Le Musée de la police''
* 1967: ''La realidad supera a la ficción''
* 1967: ''Miguel Ángel Asturias, un maya a la cour du roi Gustave''
* 1968: ''Alberto Giacometti''
* 1968: ''Luis Buñuel tourne La Voie lactée''
* 1969: ''Festival Théâtral de Nancy''
* 1969: ''Dubuffet''
* 1969: ''Giacometti''
* 1969: ''L'architecture paysanne en Iran''
* 1969: ''Jorge Luis Borges : Le passé qui ne menace pas''
* 1969: ''Jorge Luis Borges : Les journées et les nuits''
* 1970: ''Matisse''
* 1970: ''Le malentendu du design''
* 1970: ''Daumier''
* 1970: ''Brouillon d’un reportage autour Pablo Ruiz Picasso, artiste-peintre''
* 1970: ''Julio González''
* 1971: ''Colette/Sido''
* 1971: ''Fernand Léger''
* 1971: ''Le christianisme au Portugal''
* 1971: ''Francis Bacon : l’ultime regard''
* 1972: ''La musique de l’exil, les Russes''
* 1972: ''Rouge, Greco, rouge''
* 1972: ''Charles Fourier''
* 1973: ''L’amour et la charité''
* 1973: ''Zurbarán, la vie des moines et l’amour des choses''
* 1973: ''Espagnes''
* 1974: ''Retour au Portugal I : Lourdes Castro de Madere''
* 1974: ''Retour au Portugal II : Les intellectuels''
* 1975: ''¡Arriba España!''
* 1976: ''Chili Impressions : Les pompiers de Santiago / Voyage au bout de la droite / Au bonheur des généraux / Monsieur le Président''
* 1977: ''Les candidates de Saint-Amour''
* 1978: ''Des choses vues et entendues ou rêvées en Bretagne à partir desquelles Dieu nous garde de généraliser''
* 1979: ''Import Export''
* 1979: ''Coupez les cheveux de quatre mouches entre midi et quatorze heures''
* 1979: ''Joseph et Marie : les mots et les gestes''
* 1980: ''Quatre adresses pour Viollet-le-Duc''
* 1981: ''Eduardo Chillida''
* 1981: ''Tomi Ungerer''
* 1982: ''Haïti : Entre Dieu et le président / Les lois de l'hospitalité / Les enfants de Millbrook''
* 1983: ''Antonio Saura, quelques rêveries d’un promeneur solitaire''
* 1983: ''La leçon de cinéma de François Truffaut''
* 1983: ''Entre-Temps''
* 1985: ''De la sainteté I-II-II-IV''
* 1987: ''Ceux qui se souviennent''
* 1989: ''Juan Carlos Onetti''
* 1990: ''Iconoclasme''
* 1992: ''Montaigne aimé autour de nous''
* 1993: ''Où es-tu ? (Le diable en Galicie)''
* 1995: ''L'éducation, la souffrance, le plaisir''
* 1995: ''Le Château de Liechtenstein et le Paternoster de Prague''
* 1996: ''Franco, un fiancé de la mort''
* 1996: ''Rafael Alberti''
* 2001: ''Pinochet et ses trois généraux''
References
External links
IMDb Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berzosa, Jose Maria
1928 births
2018 deaths
Spanish television directors
French people of Spanish descent
Spanish film directors
People from Albacete