Óliver Laxe Coro (; born 11 April 1982) is a French-born Spanish film director, screenwriter and actor of Galician ancestry. His feature directorial debut, '' You All Are Captains'', premiered at the

2010 Cannes Film Festival The 63rd Cannes Film Festival took place from 12 to 23 May 2010. American filmmaker Tim Burton served as jury president for the main competition. Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, for the dram ...

, where it received the

FIPRESCI Prize The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for ''Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique'') is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the worl ...

in the ''

Quinzaine des Réalisateurs The Directors' Fortnight (, formerly ) is an independent section held in parallel to the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 in France, May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the C ...

''. His third feature, '' Fire Will Come'', was selected for the ''

Un Certain Regard (; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films with unusua ...

'' section at the

2019 Cannes Film Festival The 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 14 to 25 May 2019. Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu served as jury president for the main competition. South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho won the , the festival's top prize, fo ...

, earning the Jury Prize. His fourth feature, ''

Sirât ''Sirât'' is a 2025 drama film co-written and directed by Óliver Laxe. Starring Sergi López and Bruno Núñez Arjona, it follows a father's search for his missing daughter in the deserts of southern Morocco. It is a co-production between Spa ...

'', premiered in Competition at the

2025 Cannes Film Festival The 78th annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 13 to 24 May 2025. French actress Juliette Binoche served as jury president for the main competition. Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, for the drama ...

and won the Jury Prize.

Early life

Laxe was born in Paris to Galician emigrants. His parents met at Bataclan at a dance party for emigrants. Laxe's maternal family comes from Vilela, Navia de Suarna,

Lugo Lugo (, ) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population of 100,060 in 2024, ...

. He has a brother, Felipe, who works as a film producer and often collaborates on his films. In 1988, at the age of six, he returned with his family to Galicia. After completing his secondary education in

A Coruña A Coruña (; ; also informally called just Coruña; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality in Galicia, Spain. It is Galicia's second largest city, behind Vigo. The city is the provincial capital of the province ...

, he moved to

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

where he studied filmmaking at the

Pompeu Fabra University Pompeu Fabra University (, ; ) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. Established in 1990 by the Autonomous Government of Catalonia and named after Pompeu Fabra, it is known for its competitiveness in resea ...

, before relocating to London where he filmed his first short ''Y las chimeneas decidieron escapar''.

Career

His debut feature film, '' You All Are Captains'', premiered in the

Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (, formerly ) is an independent section held in parallel to the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festival as a ...

(''Quinzaine des réalisateurs'') section at the

, where it won the

. His second feature, '' Mimosas'', was filmed in the

Atlas Mountains The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb in North Africa. They separate the Sahara Desert from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; the name "Atlantic" is derived from the mountain range, which stretches around through M ...

and screened in the

Critics' Week Critics' Week (), until 2008 called International Critics' Week ('), is a parallel section to the Cannes Film Festival organized by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics. History Critics' week was created in 1962, after the French Syndicate of ...

section at the

2016 Cannes Film Festival The 69th Cannes Film Festival took place from 11 to 22 May 2016. Australian filmmaker George Miller (filmmaker), George Miller was the president of the jury for the main competition. French actor Laurent Lafitte was the host for the opening and ...

, where it won the Nespresso Grand Prize. The project was developed through the

TorinoFilmLab TorinoFilmLab (TFL) is a Turin-based laboratory that primarily supports persons working on their first and second fiction feature films. Its four main fields of involvement are training, development, funding and distribution. TorinoFilmLab runs se ...

Interchange programme in 2011. Returning to his native Galicia, he directed '' Fire Will Come'', which premiered at the

and won the ''

'' Jury Prize.

Personal life

Laxe was previously in a relationship with costume designer and frequent collaborator Nadia Acimi. He has been living in Navia de Suarna,

since 2020. The family house, named Casa Quindós after his maternal grandmother, also functions as the headquarters of the Ser Asociation, which promotes cultural and

environmentalist Environmentalism is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of Green politics, g ...

activities in rural Galicia.

Filmography

Feature films

Short Films

Other Credits

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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Oliver Laxe
a
Novo Cinema Galego
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laxe, Oliver 1982 births Living people Male actors from Galicia (Spain) Film directors from Galicia (Spain) Spanish film directors Spanish male screenwriters Spanish male film actors Film directors from Paris Male actors from Paris Pompeu Fabra University alumni 21st-century Spanish male actors 21st-century Spanish screenwriters