Rafael Azcona Fernández (24 October 1926 – 24 March 2008) was an awarded Spanish
screenwriter
A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based.
...
and
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...
who has worked with some of the best Spanish and international
filmmakers
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a Film, motion picture is #Production, produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through scr ...
. Azcona won five
Goya Awards
The Goya Awards ( es, Premios Goya) are Spain's main national annual film awards, commonly referred to as the Academy Awards of Spain.
The awards were established in 1987, a year after the founding of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sc ...
during his career, including a
lifetime achievement award
Lifetime achievement awards are awarded by various organizations, to recognize contributions over the whole of a career, rather than or in addition to single contributions.
Such awards, and organizations presenting them, include:
A
* A.C. ...
in 1998.
He was born in the northern Spanish city
Logroño
Logroño () is the capital of the province of La Rioja, situated in northern Spain. Traversed in its northern part by the Ebro River, Logroño has historically been a place of passage, such as the Camino de Santiago. Its borders were disputed b ...
on 24 October 1926. Azcona initially began his career writing for humor magazines. He became known as a screenwriter when he penned the
screenplay
''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993.
Background
After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...
for the film, ''
El Pisito
''El Pisito'' is a 1959 Spanish comedy film directed by Marco Ferreri. The Spanish Ministry of Culture forced the producers to sign the film as co-directed by Spaniard Isidoro M. Ferry. It was co-written by famous Spanish screenwriter Rafael Azc ...
'' (''The Little Apartment''), which was based on his own
novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
. The 1959 film was directed by Italian
film director
A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...
,
Marco Ferreri
Marco Ferreri (11 May 1928 – 9 May 1997) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and actor, who began his career in the 1950s directing three films in Spain, followed by 24 Italian films before his death in 1997. He is considered one of t ...
.
Azcona teamed up with director
Fernando Trueba
Fernando Rodríguez Trueba (born 18 January 1955), known as Fernando Trueba, is a Spanish book editor, screenwriter, film director and producer.
Between 1974 and 1979, he worked as a film critic for Spain's leading daily newspaper '' El País' ...
in “
Belle Époque
The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque (; French for "Beautiful Epoch") is a period of French and European history, usually considered to begin around 1871–1880 and to end with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Occurring during the era ...
,” which won an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for best foreign film in 1994. He collaborated with other Spanish directors including
Luis Garcia Berlanga
Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archai ...
, Jose Luis Cuerda, Jose Luis Garcia Sanchez, Pedro Olea, and
Carlos Saura
Carlos Saura Atarés (born 4 January 1932) is a Spanish film director, photographer and writer. Along with Luis Buñuel and Pedro Almodóvar, he is considered to be one of Spain’s most renowned filmmakers. He has a long and prolific career th ...
Madrid, Spain
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
, on 24 March 2008, at the age of 81.
Selected filmography as screenwriter
* 1959 : ''
El pisito
''El Pisito'' is a 1959 Spanish comedy film directed by Marco Ferreri. The Spanish Ministry of Culture forced the producers to sign the film as co-directed by Spaniard Isidoro M. Ferry. It was co-written by famous Spanish screenwriter Rafael Azc ...
The Ape Woman
''The Ape Woman'' ( it, La donna scimmia, french: Le Mari de la femme à barbe) is a 1964 Italian-French drama film directed by Marco Ferreri. It was entered into the 1964 Cannes Film Festival. The film was inspired by the real-life story of Jul ...
Controsesso
''Controsesso'', internationally released as ''Countersex'', is a 1964 Italian anthology comedy film directed by Franco Rossi, Marco Ferreri and Renato Castellani. All the episodes have sex as main theme. The episode of Ferreri is considered by ...
Oggi, domani, dopodomani
''Kiss the Other Sheik'' ( it, Oggi, domani, dopodomani, also known as ''The Man, the Woman and the Money'') is a 1965 Italian comedy film in three segments, directed by Eduardo De Filippo, Marco Ferreri, and Luciano Salce. It stars Marcello Mast ...
Peppermint Frappé
''Peppermint Frappé'' is a 1967 Spanish psychological thriller directed by Carlos Saura, starring Geraldine Chaplin and José Luis López Vázquez. The story centers on a man who becomes obsessed with the wife of an old friend, believing her to ...
L'udienza
''L'udienza'' is a 1972 Italian-French drama film directed by Marco Ferreri. It was entered into the 22nd Berlin International Film Festival.
Cast
* Enzo Jannacci - Amedeo
* Claudia Cardinale - Aiche
* Ugo Tognazzi - Aureliano Diaz
* Michel P ...
A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die
''A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die'' (originally titled ''Una Ragione Per Vivere E Una Per Morire'', also known as ''Massacre at Fort Holman'') is a 1972 in film, 1972 Technicolor Italian Spaghetti Western movie starring James Coburn, Bud Spencer ...
''
* 1973 : ''
Tarot
The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots, ...
The Marriage Revolution
''The Marriage Revolution'' (Spanish:''La revolución matrimonial'') is a 1974 Spanish comedy film directed by José Antonio Nieves Conde and starring Analía Gadé, José Luis López Vázquez and Ismael Merlo
Ismael Merlo (1 September 1918 &nd ...
El Poder del deseo
EL, El or el may refer to:
Religion
* El (deity), a Semitic word for "God"
People
* EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer
* El DeBarge, music artist
* El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American p ...
La Dernière femme
''The Last Woman'' (french: La Dernière femme, it, L'ultima donna, german: Die letzte Frau) is a 1976 French-Italian film directed by Marco Ferreri and starring Gérard Depardieu and Ornella Muti.
Depardieu was nominated for best actor for his ...
La escopeta nacional
''La escopeta nacional'' (in English, ''The National Shotgun'') is a 1978 Spanish comedy film directed by Luis García Berlanga. The first installment in a critically and commercially successful trilogy, the picture is an indictment of the legacy ...
''
* 1979 : ''
La miel
La Miel is a corregimiento in Las Tablas District, Los Santos Province, Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern pa ...
''
* 1979 : ''
La familia, bien, gracias
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
''
* 1981 : ''
Patrimonio nacional
Patrimonio Nacional ( en, National Heritage) is a Spanish autonomous agency, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Presidency, that administers the sites owned by the Spanish State and used by the Monarch and the Spanish Royal F ...
Nacional III
Nacional III is a Spanish comedy film from 1982 directed by Luis García Berlanga and written by him together with Rafael Azcona, the third part of the trilogy about the Leguineche family after La escopeta nacional (1978) and Patrimonio nacional ...
''
* 1983 : ''
Don Chisciotte
is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...
'' (TV)
* 1983 : ''
Los desastres de la guerra
''The Disasters of War'' ( es, Los desastres de la guerra) is a series of 8280 prints in the first published edition (1863), for which the last two plates were not available. See "Execution". prints created between 1810 and 1820 by the Spani ...
'' (TV)
* 1985 : ''
La vaquilla
''La vaquilla'' (English: ''The Heifer'') is a 1985 Spanish comedy film written and directed by Luis García Berlanga. It was the first comedy made about the Spanish Civil War and the highest-grossing Spanish film in Spain at the time surpassing ' ...
''
* 1985 : ''
La corte de Faraón
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...
El bosque animado
''The Enchanted Forest'' ( es, El bosque encantado, links=no) is a 1987 Spanish comedy-fantasy film directed by José Luis Cuerda and written by Rafael Azcona, based on the eponymous novel written by Wenceslao Fernández Flórez. The film has a ...
Come sono buoni i bianchi
Come may refer to:
*Comè, a city and commune in Benin
*Come (Tenos), an ancient town on Tenos island, Greece
Music
*Come (American band), an American indie rock band formed in 1990
*Come (UK band), a British noise project founded in 1979
**Come ...
''
* 1988 : ''
Pasodoble
Pasodoble (Spanish: ''double step'') is a fast-paced Spanish military march used by infantry troops. Its speed allowed troops to give 120 steps per minute (double the average of a regular unit, hence its name). This military march gave rise r ...
El vuelo de la paloma
''El vuelo de la paloma'' (English: ''The Flight of the Dove'') is a 1989 Spanish film directed by José Luis García Sánchez and written by Rafael Azcona and García Sánchez.
Principal cast
*Ana Belén as Paloma
*José Sacristán as Pepe
*J ...
Belle Époque
The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque (; French for "Beautiful Epoch") is a period of French and European history, usually considered to begin around 1871–1880 and to end with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Occurring during the era ...
''
* 1993 : ''
Tirano Banderas
''Banderas, the Tyrant'' ( es, Tirano Banderas, links=no) is a 1993 internationally co-produced film directed by José Luis García Sánchez. It is an adaptation of the 1926 novel ''Tirano Banderas'' by Ramón María del Valle-Inclán. It was prod ...
El Seductor
Santiago Eduardo Urueta Sierra (24 February 1904 – 23 March 1979), more commonly known as Chano Urueta, was a Mexican film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor.
Filmography Director
*1928: '' El Destino''
*1933: '' Profanación''
*193 ...
En brazos de la mujer madura
En brazos de la mujer madura, loosely based on the novel ''In Praise of Older Women'', is a 1997 Spanish coming-of-age film set during and after the Spanish Civil War. As well as recounting the amorous education of a young man, it evokes the polit ...
La niña de tus ojos
''The Girl of Your Dreams'' ( es, La niña de tus ojos) is a 1998 Spanish drama film produced and directed by Fernando Trueba that stars Penélope Cruz, Antonio Resines, Johannes Silberschneider and Hanna Schygulla. Set during the Spanish Civil Wa ...
''
* 1999 : ''
La lengua de las mariposas
''Butterfly's Tongue'' or ''Butterfly'' ( es, La lengua de las mariposas ; may be more literally translated as "''The Tongue of the Butterflies''"), is a 1999 Spanish film directed by José Luis Cuerda. The film centers on Moncho (Manuel Lozano) a ...
''
* 2000 : ''
Adiós con el corazón
Adiós (Spanish: 'goodbye') or Adios may refer to:
Music Albums
* ''Adios'' (Böhse Onkelz album), 2004
* ''Adiós'' (Flans album), 1990
* ''Adiós'' (Glen Campbell album), the final album by Glen Campbell, 2017
* ''Adios'' (KMFDM album), 1999
* ...
La marcha verde
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...
''
* 2004 : ''
Franky Banderas
Frankie may refer to:
People
*Frankie (musician), indie pop musician from Los Angeles, California
* Frankie Abernathy (1981–2007), American MTV Real World cast member
* Frankie Adams (born 1994), Samoan New Zealand actress
*Frankie Avalon (born ...