Fernando Fernán-Gómez turns 100 years old

Fernando Fernán-Gómez (1921- 2007) exemplifies a tradition of cinema, theater and television that dialogues with realism, with the sainete and with a certain quixotic idea of Spanish culture. Actor, filmmaker, journalist and writer of plays, novels and films -for which he was recognized as an academician of the Spanish language- he is one of the most exceptional artists of our recent culture.

The modern Spanish acting tradition has a long history that begins in the tables of the sainete, the bourgeois theater...: in stage comedy in its broadest sense. The professionals of this medium are incorporated into the cinema with all their know-how, especially after the arrival of sound.

From his earliest works and, of course, throughout his very extensive career, Fernando Fernán-Gómez, son and grandson of actors, is undoubtedly one of the interpreters of reference within the consolidation of the so-called "classic Spanish cinema" and his open attitude towards film production makes him present in popular cinema, but also in several generations of auteur cinema.

On the other hand, his eagerness to direct will make him a very peculiar filmmaker, whose career has been valued long after. The various films he managed to set up are, today, cult works. Thus Fernán-Gómez is enormously known and valued as an actor and, in addition, labeled peculiar and somewhat cursed as a director.

In these months in which we are celebrating the centenaries of a generation of Spanish filmmakers who defined the cinema that we now consider classic, such as Luis G. Berlanga or Juan Antonio Bardem, the actor, director and writer Fernando Fernán-Gómez occupies a place of honor and for this reason, and as a tribute, during this January 2022, we dedicate four sessions to him on the Vimeo channel of the Cervantes Institute in which two films directed by him will be presented -his debut feature film Manicomio and El extraño viaje, one of the masterpieces of Spanish cinema-, F. F. G. Un retrato -a short film dedicated to him by the critic and filmmaker Jesús García de Dueñas- and La lengua de las mariposas, in which we will be able to enjoy one of his most memorable performances.