Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi

Producer, screenwriter and director, José Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi (Madrid, 1927) moved to Barcelona when he was very young, a city where he received his profession training when he got a job as an office boy at the Emisora Films production company; there he was promoted until achieving the category of editor (1947-1954) of films directed by Ignacio F. Iquino. After his directing debut with Relato policíaco (1954), Antonio Isasi’s movie career went through two very different stages. The first started with the filming of La huida (1955) and is characterized by the predominance of crime and action movies, like Pasión bajo el sol, un drama rural (1956), Rapsodia de sangre (1957) or Sentencia contra una mujer (1960). Later would come his successful international co-productions, with outstanding films like entre Estambul 65 (1965), Las Vegas 500 millones (1964) or El perro (1977), movies where the qualities of a great classical filmmaker —in other words, magic, story, lesson—, tend to merge in an impression of unique and invigorating splendor.

Sitges Film Festival