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Icíar Bollaín

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Bollaín and the second or maternal family name is Pérez-Mínguez.
Icíar Bollaín
Born
Icíar Bollaín Pérez-Mínguez

(1967-06-12) 12 June 1967 (age 57)
Madrid, Spain
Occupations
  • Director
  • screenwriter
  • actress
Years active1995–present

Icíar Bollaín Pérez-Mínguez (born 12 June 1967) is a Spanish filmmaker and actress.[1][2][3] She is best known for directing Te Doy Mis Ojos (Take My Eyes), which won 7 Goya Awards.[4] Bollaín has won other awards for acting and script-writing, as well as for directing.

Early life and education

Icíar Bollaín Pérez-Mínguez was born in Madrid on 12 June 1967.[5] She was one of twin girls to a father who was an aeronautical engineer and a mother who was a music teacher. She grew up in a liberal household in which each member was allowed to follow their own inclination. Icíar and her twin sister Marina showed an early interest in the arts; Icíar was inclined towards filmmaking while her sister studied to become an operatic singer. Bollaín was cast in Víctor Erice's El Sur (1983), for her acting debut.[6]

Career

Since then Icíar Bollaín has acted in fourteen films. At age 18, with her twin sister Marina, she was cast by their uncle Juan Sebastián Bollaín in two films: Las dos orillas (1987); several years later the twins appeared in Dime una mentira (1992). Icíar Bollaín also took roles in films directed by Felipe Vega, Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón and José Luis Borau. Her red hair was partly what led Ken Loach to choose her for his film, Land and Freedom (1995), about the Spanish Civil War. Her experience working with Loach led her to write the book: Ken Loach: un observador solitario.[7]

Bollain at age 23 formed a production company which she named La Iguana, and made two short films: Baja Corazón (1992) and Los Amigos del muerto (1994). With support from Fernando Colomo, she made her first feature film as director: Hola, ¿estás sola? (Hi, are you alone? in English) (1995), a story about two young girls who dream of finding an earthly paradise and undertake a long trip towards the sea.

Her second feature film was Flores de otro mundo (Flowers from another world in English) (1999), which she co-wrote with Julio Llamazares. It is the story of three women who travel to rural Spain with the hopes of finding love.

Her film Te Doy Mis Ojos (Take My Eyes) (2003) won seven Goya Awards, including Best Film and Best Director.[4] Starring Luis Tosar and Laia Marull, the movie is about a man's abuse of his wife during their marriage, and their struggles to change the pattern of their lives.[8][9]

Her 2010 film Even the Rain (Tambien la lluvia) [10] was selected as the Spanish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards.[11] In January 2011, the film made the final nine shortlist.[12] A film within a film, it is set in the Bolivian highlands in 2000. A Spanish film company's work on Columbus' arrival in the New World gets caught up in local violence related to current exploitation of peasants. It stars Gael García Bernal as the director and Luis Tosar as the film producer. Carlos Aduviri, an Aymara who plays a native leader in the "film," takes the lead in organizing a resistance to water privatization; he was nominated for a Best Newcomer Award at the Goya Awards. In 2020, she was invited to membership in the AMPAS.[13]

Representative films

Flowers from Another World (Flores de otro mundo) (1999)

This movie can also be seen as a means of instruction for foreign students. It shows several key aspects of both the history of Spain and the socio-cultural evolution of the country. It tells the story of three women, Milady, from Cuba, Patricia, from the Dominican Republic and Marirrosi, from Bilbao. They have several existential problems and concerns regarding their future. These problems are similar to those suffered by three young men from Santa Eulalia, a village from the Province of Guadalajara, which is an unimportant small town without marriageable women. Damian, Alfonso and Carmelo (these young men) come into contact with the three women at a party organized by single people of the village. There they got to know each other and this gives place to a bittersweet story.

This cinematographic work is useful from an academic point of view, not only for its historical value, but also because it is presented as an open window that allows the viewer to take the place of the characters, suffering with them the same surprises and impressions, since the point of arrival of the women to Santa Eulalia. Other essential aspects of the film are that it offers the opportunity to understand one of the main points of the novel: the problems of the Spanish countryside. At the same time, Icíar Bollaín preserves the classic stereotypes of the typical Spanish town, where the bar is the most important forum for meetings and ideological defenses. But Bollaín doesn't leave behind the important issue of the leading sexism of the time, and she is also concerned to mitigate it largely by introducing characters like Doña Gregoria, who is the mother of one of the young men and also the reflection of the rural matriarchy.

Foreignness is another key point in this story. At the beginning of the film, with the arrival of the three women to the village, the feeling of strangeness and rejection towards the foreigners appears. However it starts disappearing with the development of loving relationships between them and the young men of Santa Eulalia. This is a clear solution to the problem of foreignness. Icíar Bollaín doesn't present a problem without the corresponding solution, introducing an integrative ideology that breaks with cultural and racial barriers, which is another important pillar of the film that is a recognized pedagogical intention.

Bollaín sets the film during the Spanish property bubble to reflect the issues and consequences that even today directly affect Spanish society. Flowers from Another World analyses not only the racial issue but also the role of women at that time. This can even be compared to other similar cases in which women start a movement for social integration, as in the case of the Mexican immigrant women in the United States. Everything is portrayed through the figures of the three women who star in this story.

Take my eyes (Te doy mis ojos) (2003)

Source:[14][15]

This film is characterized for introducing a new element: the Painting. The use of pictorial art enriches the staging and the story itself, analyzing the narrative function that the works of this style can have within the Cinematography. While the painting does not carry a major role in the story of Pilar, a victim of domestic violence, it is crucial to the development of the main character. Thus, the Painting may be seen as a connector rather than a main narrative axis.

Somehow, through the painting, it is observed throughout the film how Pilar gets rid of the chains of the violence and abuse made by her husband. As Icíar Bollaín said, "Pilar meets art and thus begins to grow up emotionally and as a result she escapes from her difficult situation".This could be taken as an example for all the women who have the same problem, so that they can stop the abuse and free themselves from those chains as Pilar does in the movie. Throughout the film different pictures (mainly Mythology ones) are used to reflect the development of the main character on a personal and social level.

Even the Rain (También la lluvia) (2010)

This film by Icíar Bollaín could be perfectly defined as a "film within a film" because it uses two storylines to tell the tense situation that exists in Bolivia. All related to the heritage and colonial legacy. On the one hand, in this film, there is a low budget film about Christopher Columbus and the Discovery of America in 1492 being recorded. While, on the other hand, the famous Water War (Bolivia) of Cochabamba (April 2000) is taking place. What Icíar Bollaín tries to represent using a historiographical discourse and filmic fiction, is the intersectionality between the European conquest and colonialism of 1492, the rise of neoliberalism in impoverished nations in the late 20th and early 21st century (in Bolivia the privatization of public resources, like water). Added to this analysis is the irony that the film company that is creating a revisionist historical drama, intended to bring light to the rape, enslavement, and genocide of Caribbean indigenous peoples by Columbus, is perhaps perpetuating neocolonialism through a process of film-making that commodifies indigenous peoples of Bolivia. Contributing to their poverty and oppression, directors of the film refuse to pay them a living wage while acting in their film. At the same time, indigenous populations revolt due to said privatization. However, by the end of the film, the director realizes his mistake and in a moment of compassion, and at the risk of his own life, saves the daughter of his star actor. The director uses creative license to create a historical drama that fictionalizes characters and narrative details, while presenting a broader historical truth.

Filmography

As director

Year English title Original title Notes
1993 Baja, corazón Short Film
1994 Los amigos del muerto Short Film
1995 Hi, Are You Alone? Hola, ¿estás sola?
1999 Flowers From Another World Flores de otro mundo
2000 Amores que matan Short Film.

Inspired her movie Te doy mis ojos

2002 Viajes con mi abuela Short Film
2003 Take My Eyes Te doy mis ojos [14][15][8][9] [4]
2007 Mataharis Mataharis [16]
2010 Even the Rain Tambien la lluvia Spanish official entry for Academy Awards [10][17]
2011 Katmandu Katmandú, un espejo en el cielo [18]
2016 The Olive Tree El olivo [19] [20]
2018 Yuli: The Carlos Acosta Story Yuli [21]
2020 Rosa's Wedding La boda de rosa [22]
2021 Maixabel Maixabel Political drama about a victim of terrorism and second chances.
2024 I'm Nevenka Soy Nevenka Feminist movie about sexual harassment.

As actress

Year Title Notes
2005 La noche del hermano
2003 La balsa de piedra
2002 Nos miran
2002 Sara, una estrella
2000 Leo
1997 Subjudice
1997 Niño nadie
1996 Menos de cero
1995 El techo del mundo
1994 Land and Freedom [23]
1993 Jardines colgantes
1993 Tocando fondo
1993 Dime una mentira
1992 Entretiempo
1992 Un paraguas para tres
1991 Sublet
1990 Polvo enamorado
1990 Doblones de a ocho
1990 El mejor de los tiempos
1989 Venecias
1989 Malaventura
1987 Mientras haya luz
1987 Al acecho
1986 Las dos orillas
1983 El Sur

Music Videos

Year Title Notes
2009 Romper (Album: Dramas y Caballeros) Singer: Luis Ramiro


Awards

Year Award Category Title Result Notes
2004 Goya Awards Best Film Te Doy Mis Ojos (Take My Eyes) Won [4]
Best Director Won
Best Original Screenplay Won
1999 Cannes Film Festival International Critics' Week

Grand Prix award

Flowers From Another World

(Flores de otro mundo)

Won


Bibliography

  • Bollaín, Icíar (1996). Ken Loach, un observador solitario. El País-Aguilar. ISBN 8403597347.

References

  1. ^ Santaolalla, Isabel (2012-08-15). The Cinema of Iciar Bollaín. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-8058-6.
  2. ^ Noriega, José Luis Sánchez (2021). Icíar Bollaín (in Spanish). Cátedra. ISBN 978-84-376-4203-1.
  3. ^ "Icíar Bollaín". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  4. ^ a b c d "Goya Awards 2004". www.premiosgoya.com. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  5. ^ "Iciar Bollain consigue el Premio de la Semana Internacional de la Crítica con "Flores de otro mundo"". El Mundo. 21 May 1999.
  6. ^ "Iciar Bollaín aboga por el cine con mensaje y sin etiquetas". Cadena COPE. 24 October 2018.
  7. ^ Ken Loach : un observador solitario. Worldcat.org. OCLC 806994448.
  8. ^ a b "Spanish protest over Basque film". 2004-02-01. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  9. ^ a b "Spain hits back at abuse culture". 2004-11-10. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  10. ^ a b Holden, Stephen (2011-02-17). "Discovering Columbus's Exploitation". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  11. ^ "Bollaín's Even the Rain joins Oscar race". cineuropa. Retrieved 2010-10-09.
  12. ^ "9 Foreign Language Films Continue to Oscar Race". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-01-19.
  13. ^ Goodfellow, Melanie (1 July 2020). "Festival chiefs, 'Parasite' team, Adèle Haenel among 400 new international Academy members". ScreenDaily.
  14. ^ a b Loach, Ken (2004-11-14). "All film students should see this woman's work". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  15. ^ a b Dargis, Manohla (2006-03-17). "Inside the Mind of an Abusive Husband". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  16. ^ ""Mataharis" : femmes et détectives privés". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2008-04-01. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  17. ^ King, Susan (2011-01-19). "Nine foreign-language films continue in Oscar race". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  18. ^ Mathieson, Craig (2012-11-14). "Spanish actress does nice line as action woman". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  19. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (2017-03-16). "The Olive Tree review – captivating Spanish drama". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  20. ^ Hopewell, John (2016-03-07). "Iciar Bollain Talks About 'The Olive Tree,' Spain's Crisis and Natural Beauty". Variety. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  21. ^ Clarke, Cath (2019-04-11). "Yuli: The Carlos Acosta Story review – unflinching biopic of a ballet superstar". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  22. ^ Szalai, Scott Roxborough,Georg; Roxborough, Scott; Szalai, Georg (2021-01-18). "Netflix Drama Leads Spain's Goya Awards Nominations". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2023-03-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. ^ "LAND AND FREEDOM". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2010-01-30. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
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