Screenwriter and film director, Fernando was born in Madrid in 1968. He set out to study Fine Arts, however, due to a fateful administrative error, he ended up studying Film & Communication Studies in Madrid's Complutense University, where he received his bachelor's degree. Nevertheless, his first professional occupation was as an illustrator. Early on, he began a long professional career as a screenwriter, scripting both several feature-length films, as well as popular TV shows and television series. At the age of 26 he wrote and directed his first feature length film, FAMILIA, for which he won the Goya Award for Best New Director and also Best Director, the Fipresci Award and the Audience Award at the Valladolid Film Festival, and the Best Film Award at the Houston, Miami and Angers festivals. Before that he wrote and directed SIRENAS (1994), his only short film, and the short documentary IZBIEGLIZJE (1995), filmed during the last months of the war in Bosnia Herzegovina. Collaborated as screenwriter on LA ESPALDA DEL MUNDO (1997).
His second feature was BARRIO (1998), which won three Goya Awards, for Best Direction and Best Screenplay among others, as well as the Concha de Oro for Best Director at the San Sebastian Film Festival, and also the Fipresci, Fotogramas, José María Forqué, Sant Jordi and Turia awards, among others. In 2001 he directed his first full-length documentary, CAMINANTES, which won the Best Documentary Award at the Havana Film Festival, as well as at the Los Angeles and New York Latino Film Awards.
His big international breakthrough came the following year with MONDAYS IN THE SUN (2002), featuring Luis Tosar and Javier Bardem. The film won five Goya Awards, including Best Film and Best Director; the Concha de Oro for Best Film at the San Sebastian Film Festival, and also the Fipresci, Fotogramas, Ondas, Jose María Forqué and Luis Buñuel awards, among others. He followed up with PRINCESAS (2005), which he also produced, and which won three Goya Awards, the Ondas Award for Film Event of the Year, and the Protagonistas Award, among others.
In 2007 he wrote and directed BUENAS NOCHES, OUMA, a short film included in the feature-length documentary INVISIBLES, released at the Berlin International Film Festival, and winner of the Goya for Best Documentary Film at the Spanish Academy Awards.
As an author of short stories, he has won the 2006 Camilo José Cela Award for the short story LOS TRENES NEGROS. Before that he won his second Antonio Machado Award for the story MENSAJES, and two years later was a runner-up for the same award, with LAPICEROS. He regularly collaborates as an advisor with the Screenwriters & Directors Lab of the Sundance Institute, in Utah, and also with the International School of Film in San Antonio de los Baños, in Cuba. In 2004 he founded his own production company, Reposado. AMADOR is the second feature film it produces.
Film Movement
