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Oriente

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Oriente

Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón’s eight fascinating stories move between the real and the wonderful exploring his creative universe.
These eight stories range from the everyday to the fantastical, real to the surreal. A quiet, operatic evening at Madrid’s Teatro Real turns into a confinement where darkness reigns and there is no possibility of communicating with the outside world. A visit to a pilot friend turns into an unexpected trip to the other side of the world, the sky of Seville is filled with marine animals, and a strange guest—a nestrovich—can alter the lives of a family to unexpected limits. There is, of course, also room for cinema, like in the story where a producer embarks on a film about Muhammad financed by Saudi Arabia, or that other one set in a dark booths where all kinds of characters come together: students fleeing from the police, prostitutes, masturbators, homosexuals, and the writer Azorin, a great fan of the seventh art.
Also present are art and the need for storytelling, as in the evocation of a friend from adolescence who was a math genius and met his tragic end on a beach, or in the story where a grandmother explains to her grandson about her love affairs in Cuba, debating between two prospects. The eight pieces that make up this volume confirm the talent of Manuel Gutiérrez Aragòn, who years ago moved from cinema to literature without a hitch, and has now gifted us multiple splendid books that are now accompanied by this volume.

«A great narrator: first through images, now words» (Manuel Vicent).
 

PAGES168
SERIESNarrativas hispánicas
PUBLICATION29/03/2023
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Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón

Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón

Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón (Torrelavega, Cantabria, 1942) joined the School of Cinema in Madrid in 1962, at the same time as he was studying Philosophy and Letters. His first feature film was Habla, mudita (1973), produced by Elías Querejeta and winner of the Critics’ Prize at the Berlin Film Festival. Among his best-known films are Camada negra (1977), Golden Bear for Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival; Maravillas (1980); Demonios en el jardín (1982), Critics’ Prize at the Moscow Film Festival and Donatello Prize from the Academia de Cine Italiana; La mitad del cielo (1986), Golden Shell at the San Sebastian Film Festival, all produced by Luis Megino. He has won the Fotogramas de Plata Prize for Best Film four times. In 1992, he produced the TV series El Quijote, to public acclaim and with the recognition of the Grand Prize at the Cannes Television Festival. The series was later followed by El Caballero don Quijote (2002), winner at the Venice Festival. He received the Premio Ondas for Cosas que dejé en La Habana, produced by Gerardo Herrero. In 2003 he was chosen as a member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, and was given the National Cinema Prize in 2005. He has also directed operas and plays. His most recent film was Todos estamos invitados (2008), which won the Jury Prize at the Malaga Film Festival. He recently announced his retirement from filmmaking.