Jaume Balagueró Bernat (; born 2 November 1968) is a Spanish film director and screenwriter known for his horror films, most notably the acclaimed ''REC'' series.

Early life

Balagueró was born in

Lleida Lleida (, ; ; '' see below'') is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital and largest town in Segrià county, the Ponent region and the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It ...

and grew up in

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 ...

. He studied communications and photography at the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

, graduating in 1991 with a degree in communication sciences. In 1992, Balagueró began work as a film journalist and radio host with the show “''La espuma de los días''” on Radio Hospitalet.

Career

In 1994, Balagueró graduated to shooting on

35mm 35 mm may refer to: Film * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock * 35MM, a "musical exhibition" by Ryan Scott Oliver that features music ...

with the short film ''Alicia'' (1994). The film won the prize for Best Short film at the

Sitges Film Festival SITGES - International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia () is an annual film festival held in Sitges, Catalonia, Spain. It specializes in fantasy film, fantasy, Horror film, horror and Cult film, cult films. Established in 1968, the festiva ...

. Balagueró returned with the short ''Days without Light'' (1995), which achieved similar success on the festival circuit. Balagueró made his feature-length film debut with '' The Nameless'' (1999). Based on the novel by

Ramsey Campbell Ramsey Campbell (born 4 January 1946) is an English horror fiction writer, editor and critic who has been writing for well over fifty years. He is the author of over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories, many of them winners of literary awa ...

, the film appeared at festivals worldwide, winning several awards including Best Film at the Fant-Asia Film Festival. He returned three years later with the supernatural horror film ''

Darkness Darkness is the condition resulting from a lack of illumination, or an absence of visible light. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low luminance because the hue-sensitive photoreceptor cells on the retina a ...

'' (2002). The film marked Balagueró's English-language debut, and was picked up by

Miramax Miramax, LLC, formerly known as Miramax Films, is an American independent film and television production and distribution company owned by beIN Media Group and Paramount Global. Based in Los Angeles, California, it was founded on December 19, ...

Studios, which released a heavily truncated version in U.S. theaters in December 2004. 2005 saw the release of Balagueró's third film, the ghost story '' Fragile'' (2005), starring

Calista Flockhart Calista Kay Flockhart (born November 11, 1964) is an American actress. She is best known for portraying the title character on the Fox television series '' Ally McBeal'' (1997–2002), for which she received a Golden Globe Award in 1998 and w ...

and

Richard Roxburgh Richard Roxburgh (born 23 January 1962) is an Australian actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of a number of accolades across film, television, and theatre, including several AFI and AACTA Awards, Logie Awards, and Helpmann Awards. He bega ...

. Also in 2002, Balagueró co-directed the rock music documentary ''OT: la película'' (2002). In 2006, Balagueró participated in the TV project ''Películas para no dormir (6 Films to Keep You Awake)'', directing the fourth film in the series ''To Let'', with Nuria González. A revival of Narciso Ibañez Serrador's macabre TV series ''Historias Para No Dormir'' (aka ''Tales to Keep You Awake'', 1966–67 with a brief resurrection in 1982), ''Películas'' consisted of six horror-themed episodes directed by several notable horror directors from Catalonia and other parts of Spain, including Álex de la Iglesia and

Mateo Gil Mateo Gil Rodríguez (born 23 September 1972, Las Palmas, Spain) is a Spanish film director, screenwriter, second unit director, assistant director, cinematographer, editor and producer. He co-wrote most of Alejandro Amenábar's films with him ...

. Balagueró began work on ''REC'' (2007), his fourth theatrical feature, in early 2007 and planned his third movie of the ''REC'' franchise. He directed the thriller film '' Sleep Tight'', which stars

Luis Tosar Luis López Tosar (born 13 October 1971) is a Spanish actor from Galicia. He is one of the most recognizable and versatile actors in Spain. He landed his film debut in '' Atilano for President'' (1998), followed by other roles in feature fil ...

. Balagueró directed '' REC 4: Apocalypse'' and co-wrote along Manu Díez the screenplay, of the film. He also wrote the screenbook of '' REC 3: Genesis''.

Filmography

Film

Producer only

Short film

Televisión

Awards

* 2007 – Best director in the Festival de Cinema Fantàstic de Sitges for ''

REC REC or Rec is a shortening of recording, the process of capturing data onto a storage medium. REC may also refer to: Educational institutes * Regional Engineering College, colleges of engineering and technology education in India * Rajalakshmi ...

''. * 1999 – Best European film in the Festival de Cinema Fantàstic de Sitges for '' The Nameless''. * 1994 – Best shortcut in the Festival de Cinema Fantàstic de Sitges for ''Alicia''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balaguero, Jaume 1968 births Living people People from Lleida Film directors from Catalonia Spanish horror film directors