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FCG International Scenic Arts 2007: RAFAEL AZCONA

 “For his intense and creative work which defines him as a brilliant summary of the history of Spanish cinema.  From an exceptional human trajectory, his work started out in black and white post-war Spain and has also contributed to the splendor of new Spanish cinema.  The award also gives recognition to the figure of the scriptwriter, the narrator of stories, in this case an example of solitary creation, as silent as it is essential.  His detailed curriculum also includes important research works for cinema, theatre, television, novels, essays and poetry.”. According to the jury that met in Valladolid on June 16, 2006, chaired by, Mr. Marcos Ricardo Barnatán Hodari, writer and art critic for El Mundo newspaper; Mr. Manuel Erice Oronoz, national news editor for ABC newspaper;  Mr. Manuel Lombao Lombao, Director of the Central Area of Regional Centers at TVE [Spanish National Television]; Mr. Daniel Pérez Fernández, Playwright and Manager of Teatro Principal, Zamora (Spain); Mr. Manuel Suárez Ortega, General Secretary of the Hefame Foundation.

RAFAEL AZCONA - Biography

Born in Logroño (Spain) in 1926

He arrived in Madrid in the 1950s with the money he had received from selling his few books.  At the beginning he worked as an accountant in a cardbard warehouse.

Antonio Mingote opened some doors for him in La Codorniz. Its director, Álvaro de la Iglesia, accepted him as a collaborator and offered him employment in the decoration magazine called Arte y hogar [Art and Home]. In En La Codorniz he published stories about one of his characters that quickly became very popular: El repelente niño Vicente  [Vincent, the menace child]

At the end of the 1950s, the Italian director Marco Ferreri called him to bring his novel Los muertos no se tocan, nene (1956) [The Dead must not be Touched, Baby] to the big screen.   The project did not go ahead but the following two did, which were also based on Azcona’s novels.  El pisito [The Small Apartment], Publisher in 1957 and El cochecito [The Pram] (1960), which appeared in the popular humor collection La Tortuga [The Tortoise]. That same year another one of his novels came out, entitled Los europeos [The Europeans].

He regularly attended gatherings at the Café Comercial, which were also attended by Ignacio and Josefina Aldecoa, Antonio Mingote, Jesús and Ángel Fernández Santos and Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio.

At the beginning of the 1960s he met Luis G. Berlanga.  He started his collaboration with him on films such as Plácido [Placid] (1961) and El verdugo [The Executioner] (1963). The last film made by Berlanga, París-Tombuctú, was also a script written by Azcona

He started to spend periods of time in Ibiza, then a cheap place where many foreigners used to go.   He also traveled to Italy, which was a discovery for him.

In a completely different direction from what he had done before, he started to collaborate with Carlos Saura. He wrote the script for Peppermint Frappé (1967), La madriguera [The Den] (1968), Ana y los lobos [Ana and the Wolves] (1972) and La prima Angélica [Angelica, the Cousin] (1974), among other films.

He has also written the scripts of films by José Luis Cuerda, El bosque animado [The Animated Forest] (1987) and La lengua de las mariposas [The Butterflies’ Tongue] (1999); José Luis García Sánchez: Suspiros de España (y Portugal) [Sighs of Spain (and Portugal)] (1995); and Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón: El rey del río [King of the River] (1994).

He has been the scriptwriter for more than eighty films in the forty years of his professional career, although he never goes to the premieres –he disappears from home and stays in a hotel to avoiding obligations- and he always says that he prefers to read than to go to the cinema.  He is one of the most acknowledged Spanish scriptwriters.

Awards and Recognitions

 Goya Awards 1988
Award for the Best Script:
El bosque animado [The Animated Forest] by Rafael Azcona.
Nomination: Moros y cristianos [Moors and Christians] by Rafael Azcona and Luis García Berlanga.

Goya Awards 1989
Award for the Best Original Script:
Nomination: Pasodoble by Rafael Azcona and José Luis García Sánchez.

Goya Awards 1990
Award for Best Original Script:
Nomination: El vuelo de la paloma [The Flight of the Dove] by Rafael Azcona and José Luis García Sánchez.

Goya Awards 1991
Award for Best Adapted Script:
¡Ay, Carmela! [Alas, Carmel!] by Carlos Saura and Rafael Azcona.

Goya Awards 1993
Award for Best Original Script:
Belle Époque by Rafael Azcona, José Luis García Sánchez and Fernando Trueba.

Goya Awards 1994
Award for Best Adapted Script:
Tirano Banderas [Bunting Tyrants] by José Luis García Sánchez and Rafael Azcona.

Goya Awards 1997
Award for Best Adapted Script:
Nomination: Tranvía a la Malvarrosa by Rafael Azcona and José Luis García Sánchez.

Goya Awards 1998
Honorary Award to Rafael Azcona.

Goya Awards 1999
Award for Best Original Script:
Nomination: La niña de tus ojos [The Girl of your Eyes] by Rafael Azcona, David Trueba, Manuel Ángel Egea and Carlos López

Other Awards

Best Original Plot and Script Award from the Cinematography Writers’ Circle for El verdugo [The Executioner] (1963)

Best Script Award from the Cinematography Writers’ Circle for Los desafíos  [The Challenges] (1969)

Best Script Award from Midi-Pyrennes 1997 for Tranvía a la Malvarrosa (1996)

National Cinematography Award, Spain

Ennio Flaiano Award, Italy, 1983

European Cinema Award,  Italy

Best Spanish Playwright Award in the IV Edition of the Max Awards for El verdugo [The Executioner]. The event took place on 23 April last in the Arriaga Theater in Bilbao (Spain)

www.cervantesvirtual.com/bib_autor/Azcona