Alejandro Jodorowsky facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Alejandro Jodorowsky
Jodorowsky in 2011
Born	Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (1929-02-17) 17 February 1929 (age 96) Tocopilla, Chile
Citizenship	Chile France
Occupation	Film director screenwriter actor author
Years active	1948–present
Movement	Panic Movement
Spouse(s)	Valérie Trumblay ​ ​ (div. 1982)​ Pascale Montandon ​ ​ (m. 2003)​
Children	5, including Brontis, Axel and Adán
Relatives	Alma Jodorowsky (granddaughter)

Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (born 17 February 1929) is a famous filmmaker and artist from Chile and France. He is known for his unique and imaginative movies like El Topo (1970), The Holy Mountain (1973), and Santa Sangre (1989). People who love unusual films really admire his work. His movies often show strange and dream-like scenes, mixing spiritual ideas with surprising moments.

Alejandro Jodorowsky was born to a family from Ukraine who had moved to Chile. He had a tough childhood and felt like an outsider. Because of this, he spent a lot of time reading and writing poetry. He left college early to work in theater, especially mime. He even worked as a clown before starting his own theater group, Teatro Mimico, in 1947.

In the early 1950s, he moved to Paris, France. There, he learned more about mime and even acted in a silent film called Les têtes interverties (1957). From 1960, he split his time between Mexico City and Paris. He helped start the Panic Movement, a group of artists who created shocking and wild performances. In 1966, he made his first comic strip, Anibal 5. The next year, he directed his first full-length movie, Fando y Lis, which caused a big stir in Mexico and was even banned.

His next film, El Topo (1970), became very popular in the United States. It was shown late at night and became known as the first "midnight cult film." The famous musician John Lennon loved it and convinced his manager, Allen Klein, to give Jodorowsky money for his next movie. This led to The Holy Mountain (1973), a film that explored spiritual ideas. Later, Jodorowsky had disagreements with Allen Klein, which meant his films The Holy Mountain and El Topo were not widely released for a long time. But they still became classics among underground film fans.

After a try at making a movie based on the science fiction book Dune that didn't happen, Jodorowsky made more films. These include the family movie Tusk (1980), the surreal horror film Santa Sangre (1989), and two films about his own life: The Dance of Reality (2013) and Endless Poetry (2016).

Jodorowsky is also a talented comic book writer. He wrote the science fiction series The Incal in the 1980s, which some people call one of the best comic books ever. He also wrote other comics like The Technopriests and Metabarons. Besides his art, Jodorowsky has written and taught about his own spiritual ideas, which he calls "psychomagic" and "psychoshamanism." These ideas combine parts of alchemy, tarot, Zen Buddhism, and shamanism.

Early Life and Artistic Beginnings

Alejandro Jodorowsky was born in 1929 in Tocopilla, a town on the coast of Chile. His parents were Jewish immigrants from what is now Ukraine. His father, Jaime Jodorowsky Groismann, was a merchant, and his mother was Sara Felicidad Prullansky Arcavi. Alejandro also had an older sister named Raquel.

He often felt like an outsider because his family were immigrants. He also saw how American mining companies treated the local Chilean people poorly. This experience made him speak out against unfair treatment in his later films. He loved his hometown and was very sad when his family had to move to Santiago, Chile, when he was nine years old.

Discovering Poetry and Theater

In Santiago, he found comfort in reading and started writing poetry. His first poem was published when he was sixteen. He became friends with other Chilean poets like Nicanor Parra. He also became interested in anarchism, a political idea about freedom and self-governance.

He went to college to study psychology and philosophy but left after two years. He was very interested in theater and mime. He began working as a clown in a circus and started directing plays. In 1947, he created his own theater group, the Teatro Mimico. By 1952, it had fifty members. The next year, he wrote his first play, El Minotaura (The Minotaur). Feeling that he had done all he could in Chile, he moved to Paris.

Learning Mime in Paris

In Paris, Jodorowsky studied mime with a famous teacher named Étienne Decroux. He joined the group of Marcel Marceau, another well-known mime artist. He traveled the world with Marceau's group and wrote several mime acts for them. After this, he went back to directing theater.

He also directed a short silent film in 1957 called La cravate (The Tie). This film was almost entirely mime and told a strange story about a merchant who could swap heads. Jodorowsky played the main character. The famous director Jean Cocteau admired the film. For a long time, the film was thought to be lost, but a copy was found in 2006.

Moving to Mexico and the Panic Movement

In 1960, Jodorowsky moved to Mexico City. He still visited France sometimes. In 1962, he helped create the Panic Movement with Fernando Arrabal and Roland Topor. This group wanted to go beyond traditional surrealist art by adding absurd and shocking elements. They didn't take themselves too seriously and often laughed at critics.

In 1966, he made his first comic strip, Anibal 5. The next year, he directed his first full-length movie, Fando y Lis, which was based on a play by Fernando Arrabal. This film was shown at the Acapulco Film Festival in 1968.

In Mexico City, he met Ejo Takata, a Zen Buddhist monk. Jodorowsky became his student and even offered his house to be used as a place for meditation. Takata taught Jodorowsky about his spiritual side.

A Career in Filmmaking

El Topo and The Holy Mountain (1970–1974)

In 1970, Jodorowsky released El Topo, also known as The Mole. He directed and starred in this film. He wanted to share El Topo with audiences around the world, especially in the United States. In New York City, the film played as a "midnight movie" for many months.

The film caught the attention of rock musician John Lennon, who loved it. Lennon convinced Allen Klein, the head of The Beatles' company Apple Corps, to distribute El Topo in the United States.

Klein then gave Jodorowsky $1 million to make his next film, The Holy Mountain, which came out in 1973. This movie was a complex story about a man called "The Thief" and a mystical alchemist (played by Jodorowsky). It followed a group of powerful business people on a quest to a holy mountain to find the secret of immortality.

Unfortunately, disagreements with Allen Klein meant that El Topo and The Holy Mountain were not widely available for over 30 years. However, both films became very popular among fans of underground cinema.

Dune and Tusk (1975–1980)

In 1974, a French group asked Jodorowsky to direct a film version of Frank Herbert's science fiction novel Dune. Jodorowsky had big plans for the movie. He wanted famous artist Salvador Dalí to play the Emperor and Orson Welles to play Baron Harkonnen. Dalí agreed to act for a very high fee, and Welles agreed when Jodorowsky promised to have his favorite chef cook for him. Jodorowsky's son, Brontis Jodorowsky, was set to play the main character, Paul Atreides. The music was planned to be by Pink Floyd.

Jodorowsky worked with talented artists like Jean Giraud (Mœbius) and H. R. Giger to design the film. Frank Herbert, the author of Dune, visited the production and saw that a lot of money had already been spent. Jodorowsky's script was very long, which would have made the movie about 14 hours! The film project eventually fell apart because no studio wanted to fund it on Jodorowsky's terms. This story is told in the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune.

After the Dune project ended, Jodorowsky made a very different film in 1980. It was a children's story called Tusk, filmed in India. The movie was about the special connection between a young British woman and an elephant. This film was not widely released.

Santa Sangre and The Rainbow Thief (1981–1990)

In 1989, Jodorowsky finished Santa Sangre (Holy Blood), a Mexican-Italian film. This movie helped bring Jodorowsky back into the public eye, even though reviews were mixed.

In 1990, he directed The Rainbow Thief. This film allowed him to work with famous actors like Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif. However, the producer, Alexander Salkind, limited Jodorowsky's artistic freedom.

In 1990, Jodorowsky and his family moved back to France.

Returning to Filmmaking (1990–2011)

Jodorowsky in Sitges, Spain (2006)

Jodorowsky (left) and Spanish writer Diego Moldes in Paris (2008)

In 2000, Jodorowsky received a special award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival. His films, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, were shown there.

For many years, his films El Topo and The Holy Mountain were hard to find because of legal issues. But after a settlement in 2004, they were re-released on DVD in 2007. This meant more people could finally watch his unique movies.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky tried to make a sequel to El Topo, sometimes called The Sons of El Topo or Abel Cain. But he couldn't find people to invest in the project.

In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City held a special event showing Jodorowsky's films. Jodorowsky attended and taught a class about how art can change things. This event inspired another exhibition at MoMA PS1 in 2011.

The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry (2011–Present)

In August 2011, Alejandro visited the town in Chile where he grew up. This town is also the setting for his autobiography, The Dance of Reality. He was there to promote a film based on his book.

On Halloween night in 2011, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City honored Jodorowsky by showing The Holy Mountain. He spoke about his work and life. The next night, he presented El Topo.

Jodorowsky finished filming The Dance of Reality in January 2013. His son Brontis, who also starred in the film, said it was "very different than the other films he made." The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in April 2013, along with the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune.

In 2015, Jodorowsky started a new film called Endless Poetry, which is a sequel to The Dance of Reality. His film company raised money from fans to help make the movie. It was filmed in Santiago, Chile, where Jodorowsky lived when he was young. The film shows his early adult life and how he became part of a group of Chilean poets. His son Adan Jodorowsky plays him as an adult, and Brontis Jodorowsky plays his father, Jaime. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2016 and received very positive reviews.

During an interview at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016, Jodorowsky said he still plans to make The Son of El Topo when he gets the money.

Other Creative Work

Comics

Jodorowsky at the 2008 Japan Expo in Paris

Jodorowsky began writing comics in Mexico in 1966 with the Anibal 5 series. He also drew his own comic strip, Fabulas pánicas, for a Mexican newspaper. After his film Tusk, he started The Incal with artist Jean Giraud (Mœbius). This graphic novel uses ideas from the tarot cards. The Incal is part of a larger science fiction universe called the "Jodoverse," which includes other comic series like Metabarons and The Technopriests. Many ideas from his unmade Dune film project found their way into this comic universe.

Mœbius and Jodorowsky sued Luc Besson, the director of The Fifth Element, saying that the 1997 film used ideas from The Incal. However, they lost the case. Jodorowsky later said he considered it an honor that someone used his ideas.

Jodorowsky has also written other comics, including the Western Bouncer and Juan Solo (Son of the Gun). His comic Le Cœur couronné (The Crowned Heart), which is a funny story about religion, won an award in 2001.

Psychomagic

Jodorowsky spent almost ten years studying and putting back together the original form of the Tarot de Marseille cards. From this work, he developed his own healing methods, which he calls psychomagic and psychoshamanism.

Psychomagic aims to help people heal from emotional pain. It's based on the idea that doing certain actions can help your mind let go of past problems, even ones that might have been passed down through your family. He also uses "psychogenealogy," which involves studying a person's family history to understand their problems.

Jodorowsky has written many books about his healing methods, including Psicomagia: La trampa sagrada (Psychomagic: The Sacred Trap) and his autobiography, La danza de la realidad (The Dance of Reality). His books are very popular in Spanish and French.

For 25 years, Jodorowsky gave free classes and talks in Paris. These often started with tarot lessons and ended with a talk where he would help people understand their family history and how it affects them. He believes these activities are the most important work of his life.

His film Psychomagic, a Healing Art was released in 2019 and became available for streaming in 2020.

Influences and Impact

Jodorowsky has said that the filmmaker Federico Fellini was his biggest influence. Other artists who inspired him include Jean-Luc Godard and Luis Buñuel. Many modern artists and filmmakers have been influenced by Jodorowsky's unique style, including Marilyn Manson, David Lynch, and Kanye West.

Personal Life

Alejandro Jodorowsky has both Chilean and French citizenship. He has five children. His first wife was Valérie Trumblay, and they had three sons: Teo, Axel "Cristobal", and Adan. They divorced in 1982. He is now married to artist Pascale Montandon.

• Brontis Jodorowsky (born 1962) is an actor who worked with his father in El Topo and his autobiographical films. Brontis's daughter, Alma Jodorowsky, is a fashion model.
• Teo (died 1995) appeared in Santa Sangre.
• Axel Cristóbal (1965–2022) was a psychoshaman and actor.
• Eugenia Jodorowsky is his fourth child.
• Adan Jodorowsky (born 1979) is a musician known as Adanowsky.

Jodorowsky describes himself as an "atheist mystic" when it comes to his religious views. He does not drink or smoke, and he avoids red meat and poultry, preferring vegetables, fruits, grains, and sometimes seafood.

In 2005, Jodorowsky performed the wedding ceremony for musician Marilyn Manson and Dita Von Teese.

Filmography

Acting roles

Documentary appearances

• Jonathan Ross Presents for One Week Only (1991)
• The Jodorowsky Constellation (1994)
• NWR (2012)
• Jodorowsky's Dune (2013)
• My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (2015)
• Psychomagic, a Healing Art (2019)

See also

In Spanish: Alejandro Jodorowsky para niños