Isabel Coixet facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Isabel Coixet
Born	Isabel Coixet Castillo (1960-04-09) 9 April 1960 (age 65) Barcelona, Spain
Alma mater	University of Barcelona
Occupation	Film director
Years active	1989–present
Known for	My Life Without Me The Secret Life of Words
Spouse(s)	Reed Brody
Children	1

Isabel Coixet Castillo (born April 9, 1960) is a Spanish film director. She is one of the most active film directors in modern Spain. She has directed many feature films, documentaries, short films, and commercials since 1988. Her movies are different from traditional Spanish films. They help people think about national films in new ways. Isabel Coixet is known for exploring "emotions, feelings, and life's challenges." She also has a special visual style. She directs, writes, produces, shoots, and sometimes acts in her films. This makes her a unique filmmaker from Catalonia.

Early Life and First Steps

Isabel Coixet was born in Sant Adrià del Besòs, near Barcelona, on April 9, 1960. She started making films when she received an 8mm camera as a gift. After studying history at Barcelona University, she worked in advertising. She wrote ads for a cinema magazine called Fotogramas.

She continued working in advertising and became a creative director at JWT. Her clients included big companies like BMW, Renault, and Ikea. She won awards for her ads, but she wanted to do more. Coixet made her first short film, Mira y verás, in 1984.

A Career in Film

In 1988, Isabel Coixet directed and wrote her first full-length movie, Demasiado Viejo Para Morir Joven (Too Old to Die Young). For this film, she was nominated for a Goya Award as Best New Director.

Making Films in English

In 1996, she went to the United States to make her first English-language film. It was called Things I Never Told You (Cosas que nunca te dije). This drama starred American actors like Lili Taylor and Andrew McCarthy. Coixet received another Goya Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Later, in 1998, she made a historical adventure film called A los que aman in Spain. Two years after that, she started her own production company.

International Success and Key Films

In 2000, Coixet started her own company, Miss Wasabi Films. Through this company, she has produced over 400 commercials. Her big international success came in 2003 with the drama My Life Without Me. This film was based on a short story by Nancy Kincaid.

Canadian actress Sarah Polley played Ann, a young mother with terminal cancer. The film was highly praised at the Berlin International Film Festival. Coixet worked with Sarah Polley again in 2005 for The Secret Life of Words. This film also starred Tim Robbins and Javier Cámara. It won four Goya Awards, including Best Film and Best Director.

In 2005, Coixet joined 18 other international filmmakers for a special project. They made Paris, je t’aime, where each director explored a different part of Paris.

Documentaries and Awards

Coixet has also made important documentaries. Invisibles (2007) was about the medical group Doctors Without Borders. Her documentary Journey to the Heart of Torture was filmed in Sarajevo during the Balkan War. It won an award at the Human Rights Film Festival in 2003.

In April 2006, she received the Creu de Sant Jordi De Cine Awards. This is a major award from the government of Catalonia. She won two awards: one for The Secret Life of Words as the best Spanish film, and another voted by the audience.

In 2008, Coixet released Elegy, filmed in Vancouver. It was based on a novel and starred Penélope Cruz and Ben Kingsley. The film was shown at the 58th Berlin International Film Festival.

In 2009, her film Map of the Sounds of Tokyo premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. It was filmed in Japan and Barcelona. That same year, she received the gold medal for Fine Arts. She also served on the jury for the 59th Berlin Film Festival.

In 2010, she was in charge of content for one of the Spanish Pavilion lounges at the Expo Shanghai. She also opened an exhibition for her documentary Aral. The Lost Sea, filmed in Uzbekistan in 2009.

In 2011, her documentary Listening to Judge Garzón premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. It featured an interview with the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón. The film won a Goya for Best Documentary.

In 2012, she directed White Tide, a documentary about the 10-year anniversary of the Prestige oil spill. It focused on the volunteers who helped clean the Galician coasts.

That same year, Coixet filmed Ayer no termina nunca (Yesterday Never Ends). It premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and won several awards at the Málaga Film Festival. She also started filming Another Me, an English-language thriller. It starred Sophie Turner, Rhys Ifans, and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers.

Cast of Nobody Wants the Night - Isabel Coixet (director), Gabriel Byrne, Rinko Kikuchi at the 65th BIFF in 2015

In 2013, she filmed Learning to Drive in New York City. This American film was based on an article from The New York Times. It starred Sir Ben Kingsley and Patricia Clarkson, who Coixet had worked with before. The film won an award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Her next project was Nobody Wants the Night, filmed in Norway, Bulgaria, and the Canary Islands. It starred Juliette Binoche, Rinko Kikuchi, and Gabriel Byrne. This film opened the 66th Berlin International Film Festival.

Coixet often makes documentaries to speak out against things she disagrees with. In 2014, she filmed Talking about Rose: Prisoner of Hissène Habré in Chad. Narrated by Juliette Binoche, it tells the story of torture victims trying to bring a former dictator to justice.

In 2015, she received an award for her entire career at the Málaga Festival. A documentary about her work, Words, Maps, Secrets And Other Things, was also shown. She also received the Knight of Arts and Letters award from the French Ministry of Culture.

From 2015 to 2016, Coixet directed Spain in a Day. This project used videos recorded by thousands of volunteers on October 24, 2015. It aimed to show what life was like in Spain on that day.

In 2016, she directed The Bookshop (La librería). The script was based on a novel by Penelope Fitzgerald. It won an award for best literary adaptation at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2017. The film was shot in Northern Ireland and Barcelona. It starred Emily Mortimer, Bill Nighy, and Patricia Clarkson. The Bookshop opened the SEMINCI 2017 festival and was very successful. It also premiered internationally at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2018.

In February 2019, Coixet released Elisa y Marcela with Netflix. This film was about the first registered same-sex marriage in Spain. On September 4, 2020, Isabel Coixet was awarded the National Film Award 2020 in Spain.

Production Company

In 2000, Coixet started her own production company, Miss Wasabi. She wanted to produce her own personal projects. The company mainly works on advertising, music videos, and documentaries. It also handles cultural projects like exhibitions and books. Some of the main projects directed and produced by Isabel Coixet include the documentary Aral, el mar perdido (2009), From I to J (2010), Escuchando al Juez Garzón (2011), the film Ayer no termina nunca (2013), and Talking about Rose. Prisoner of Hissène Habré (2015).

TV Projects

For the 50th anniversary of TVE Catalunya (Spanish Television in Catalonia), Coixet and other filmmakers created 50 years of... (50 años de…’'). This program used old footage from Televisión Española to show the last half-century in Spain. There have been more seasons of this show, including Cómo hemos cambiado.

Personal Life

Isabel Coixet has a daughter named Zoe, born in 1997. She lives in Barcelona with her partner, Reed Brody, who is a human rights lawyer.

Film Style and Themes

Isabel Coixet's films are unique and hard to put into one category. She makes films in both English and Spanish, and her topics are very different. Her filmmaking style comes from her background in advertising. This means her visuals, colors, and how things are arranged in the shot are very carefully planned. She often operates the camera herself on her films.

Communication and Social Issues

One of her main themes is communication. She often explores how words are used to understand each other, and how messages sometimes don't get through. She has said she is fascinated by situations where people don't connect.

Another important part of her work is her strong commitment to social issues. She has explored topics like global warming in The Secret Life of Words. Her documentaries, like the one about Judge Garzón, show her focus on social problems.

Love, Solitude, and Connections

Love and solitude are also common themes in her movies. She explores these feelings in a deep and meaningful way. She often includes scenes in laundromats in her films, which has become a recognizable part of her style.

Coixet connects with her characters and their stories in a surprising way. She presents them to the audience simply, but with great honesty. This search for connection is inspired by the poet John Berger. She believes, like him, that "anything can explain the world" by connecting poetry, philosophy, and other ideas.

In Coixet's films, spiritual connections between people are combined with a strong social awareness. She is always ready to highlight unfairness in the world. Her films often show her strong views on politics and women's rights. For example, The Secret Life of Words talks about the abuse of a woman during the Balkan War.

Filmography

Films

Feature Films

Producer only

• Clue (2008) (Executive Producer)
• Nobody's Watching (2017) (co-producer)
• Distances (2018) (Associate producer)

Short Films

Producer

• Meteoritos (1997)
• Jealousy (2002) (executive producer)
• Teeth (2014) (also executive producer)
• Sara a la fuga (2015)

Documentaries

Documentary Films

Associate producer

• Hotel Explotación: Las Kelly's (2018)
• Drowning Letters (2020)

Documentary Short Films

Television

Music Videos

Awards and Recognition

Goya Awards

Medals of the Circle of Cinematographic Writers

Feroz Awards

Forqué Awards

Gaudí Awards

Butaca Awards

Other Awards

• National Film and Audiovisual Prize of Catalonia (2002) for the film My Life Without Me.
• Premio Creu de Sant Jordi de cine (2006).
• Ojo Crítico de Cine Award in its XIV Edition for the film, My Life Without Me, for its "sincerity and sensitivity."
• Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (2015) for her contributions to art and culture.
• Atlantida Award from the Catalan Publishers (2016).
• Award for the Best Literary Adaptation at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2017, for The Bookshop.
• International Award Yo Dona 2018.
• Premio Nacional de Cinematografía de España 2020.

Books by Isabel Coixet

• My Life Without Me (Mi vida sin mí) (2003)
• La vida es un guión (2004)
• La vida secreta de las palabras (2005)
• Mapa de los sonidos de Tokio (2009)
• Isabel Muñoz (2009)
• From I to J (2009)
• Alguien debería prohibir los domingos por la tarde (2011)
• La vida secreta de Isabel Coixet (2011)

See also

In Spanish: Isabel Coixet para niños

• List of female film and television directors