Agustí Villaronga facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Agustí Villaronga
Villaronga in 2020
Born	Agustí Villaronga Riutort (1953-03-04)4 March 1953 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Died	22 January 2023(2023-01-22) (aged 69) Barcelona, Spain
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter, actor
Years active	1976–2023

Agustí Villaronga Riutort (born March 4, 1953 – died January 22, 2023) was a talented Spanish film director, writer, and actor. He made many movies, TV shows, and short films. His movie Moon Child was even shown at the famous 1989 Cannes Film Festival.

Agustí Villaronga was known for making films that explored deep human feelings. In 2011, he won the important Goya Award for Best Director for his movie Black Bread. This film, made in the Catalan language, was chosen to represent Spain at the Oscars, but it wasn't picked for the final list.

Life and Career

Agustí Villaronga was born on March 4, 1953, in Palma, Spain. His grandparents were puppeteers, and his father grew up during the Spanish Civil War. These family stories often inspired his films.

From a young age, his father encouraged his love for movies. Agustí knew he wanted to become a film director. Before directing, he worked as an actor and made some short films.

Early Films

Villaronga made his first full-length movie, In a Glass Cage, in 1986. This film was shown at the Berlin film festival and received great reviews and awards. It tells the story of a former Nazi doctor who is now paralyzed. A young man, who was one of the children he harmed during the war, comes to take care of him.

His second film, Moon Child (1989), is about a child who travels to Africa to join a tribe. They are waiting for a special white child to arrive, whom they believe is a god.

In 1992, he made a documentary called Al-Andalus. It was produced by Sogetel and the MoMa museum in New York city. For a few years, Villaronga tried to get money to make a movie from a book by Mercè Rodoreda. Instead, he took on other projects. One of these was El pasajero clandestino, based on a Georges Simenon novel. This film was different from his usual personal style.

Later Works and Success

Actress María Barranco asked Villaronga to direct the 1997 horror film 99.9. This movie won an award for Best Cinematography at the 1997 Sitges Film Festival. In 2000, Villaronga returned with his own project, El mar. This story is set in Mallorca and follows three childhood friends. They were all deeply affected by the Spanish Civil War. Ten years later, they meet again as young adults.

In 2002, Villaronga worked with Lydia Zimmermann and Isaac Pierre Racine to co-direct Aro Tolbukhin: In the Mind of a Killer. He also directed a music video for the French singer Mylène Farmer in 2005. In 2007, he made Después de la lluvia, a TV movie based on a play.

It wasn't until 2010 that Villaronga became widely known with his film Black Bread. This movie won nine Goya Awards, including Best Film and Best Director. It tells the story of an eleven-year-old boy growing up in rural Catalonia after the Spanish Civil War. He slowly discovers the hidden truths and lies around him.

After the success of Black Bread, Villaronga directed A Letter to Evita. This was a TV miniseries that told the true story of Eva Perón's visit to Spain in the late 1940s.

Agustí Villaronga passed away on January 22, 2023, in Barcelona, at 69 years old. At the time of his death, he had one film, Stormy Lola, that was still to be released. It was filmed in 2022 and was his first comedy movie.

On December 1, 2022, Villaronga received the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts. This is a special award for people who have done great things in the arts.

Filmography

Film

Short Film

Television

Accolades

Agustí Villaronga won many awards for his films. Here are some of the most important ones:

See Also

In Spanish: Agustí Villaronga para niños

Images for kids

• 

  Agustí Villaronga in 2020