Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés (Spanish: [ˈlwis βuˈɲwel poɾtoˈles]; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. Buñuel's work was known for its avant-garde surrealism which was also infused with political commentary and social satire.
Often associated with the surrealist movement of the 1920s, Buñuel made films from the 1920s through the 1970s. He collaborated with prolific surrealist painter Salvador Dali creating the films Un Chien Andalou (1929), which was made in the silent era and L'Age d'Or (1930). The two films are seen as the birth of Cinematic surrealism. From 1947 to 1960 he developed his skills as a director filming in Mexico making grounded and human melodramas such as Gran Casino (1947), Los Olvidados (1950), and Él (1953). Here is where he gained the fundamentals of storytelling.
Buñuel than transitioned into making artful, unconventional, surrealist, and political satirical films. He earned acclaim with the morally complex arthouse drama film Viridiana (1961) which criticized the Francoist dictatorship. The film won the Palme d'Or at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival. He then criticized political and social conditions in The Exterminating Angel (1962), and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoise (1972) the later of which won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. He also directed Diary of a Chambermaid (1964), and Belle de Jour (1967), as well as his final film That Obscure Object of Desire (1977) the later of which earned the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director.
Buñuel earned five Cannes Film Festival prizes, two Berlin International Film Festival prizes, and a BAFTA Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards. Buñuel received numerous honors including National Prize for Arts and Sciences for Fine Arts in 1977, the Moscow International Film Festival Contribution to Cinema Prize in 1979, and the Career Golden Lion in 1982. He was nominated once for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968. Seven of Buñuel's films are included in Sight & Sound's 2012 critics' poll of the top 250 films of all time.
Photos
Movies (75)
Short Cuts: “The Diary of a Chambermaid” by Luis Buñuel
2026 · Original Film Writer
Memoria de Los Olvidados
2025 · Self (archive footage)
Constel·lació Portabella
2024 · (archive footage)
Deneuve, la reine Catherine
2022 · Self (archive footage)
Le Fantôme de Laurent Terzieff
2020 · Self (archive footage)
Jeanne Moreau: Free Spirit
2018 · Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
The Metropolitan Opera: The Exterminating Angel
2017 · Original Story
The Incredible Mr. Piccoli
2017 · Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
Tras Nazarin: Following Nazarin
2015 · Self (archive footage)
Discovering Buñuel
2012 · Self/Archive Footage
Catherine Deneuve, belle et bien là
2010 · Self (archive footage)
Belle Toujours
2006 · Thanks
tvSSFBM EHKL
2001 · Himself (archive footage)
Speaking of Buñuel
2000 · Self (archive footage)
Eating Sea Urchins
2000 · Director
Buñuel in Hollywood
2000 · Self (archive footage)
Les paradoxes de Buñuel
1998 · Self (archive footage)
La novia de medianoche
1997 · Screenplay
A Mexican Buñuel
1997 · Self (archival)
Paco, mi padre
1992
The Life and Times of Don Luis Buñuel
1984 · Self
Buñuel
1984 · Self
A Play About Remembering and Dying
1984 · Novel
That Obscure Object of Desire
1977 · Director, Screenplay
The Phantom of Liberty
1974 · Condemned Man (uncredited), Director, Writer, Sound Effects
Fall of a Body
1973 · Un invité (uncredited)
The Monk
1972 · Screenplay
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
1972 · Director, Screenplay, Sound Effects
Johnny Got His Gun
1971 · Writer
The Castaway on the Street of Providence
1971 · Self
Tristana
1970 · Director, Producer, Screenplay
The Milky Way
1969 · (voice) (uncredited), Director, Writer, Original Music Composer
Belle de Jour
1967 · Man in Gardencafe - Left from the Duke (uncredited), Director, Screenplay
There Are No Thieves in This Village
1965
Simon of the Desert
1965 · Director, Screenplay, Dialogue, Story
Weeping for a Bandit
1964 · El verdugo
Luis Buñuel : Un cinéaste de notre temps
1964 · Self
Diary of a Chambermaid
1964 · Director, Writer, Editor
The Exterminating Angel
1962 · Director, Screenplay, Dialogue
Viridiana
1962 · Director, Screenplay, Editor
The Young One
1960 · Director, Screenplay
Fever Mounts at El Pao
1959 · Director, Writer
Nazarín
1959 · Director, Screenplay
Death in the Garden
1956 · Director, Screenplay, Editor
That Is the Dawn
1956 · Director, Writer
The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz
1955 · Director, Writer
The River and Death
1954 · Director, Writer
Robinson Crusoe
1954 · Director, Screenplay
Wuthering Heights
1954 · Director, Story, Adaptation
Illusion Travels by Streetcar
1954 · Director, Editor
The Proud and the Beautiful
1953 · Smuggler (uncredited)
Él
1953 · Director, Adaptation, Screenplay
The Brute
1953 · Director, Writer
A Woman Without Love
1952 · Director, Screenplay
Mexican Bus Ride
1952 · Director, Adaptation
Daughter of Deceit
1951 · Director
Susana
1951 · Director, Writer, Editor
Si usted no puede, yo sí
1951 · Writer
The Young and the Damned
1950 · Director, Screenplay, Editor
The Great Madcap
1949 · Director
Gran Casino
1947 · Director
Espagne 1937
1938 · Production Manager
Guard! Alert!
1937 · Production Director, Co-Director
Spain 1936
1937 · Screenplay, Producer
Who Loves Me?
1936 · Production Director, Screenplay, Co-Director
The Daughter of Juan Simón
1935 · Production Director
Don Quintin the Bitter
1935 · Screenplay, Producer
Land Without Bread
1933 · Director, Producer, Editor, Screenplay
L'Âge d'or
1930 · (uncredited), Director, Editor, Original Music Composer, Screenplay
Un Chien Andalou
1929 · Man in Prologue (uncredited), Screenplay, Editor, Producer, Director
Montparnasse
1929
The Fall of the House of Usher
1928 · Adaptation, Writer, Assistant Director
Siren of the Tropics
1927 · Assistant Director
Mauprat
1926 · Monk / Guardsman, Production Assistant
Carmen
1926 · Contrebandier chez lillas pastia, Assistant Director
