Luis Buñuel

Luis Buñuel

Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was an Aragonese filmmaker who worked in Spain, Mexico and France

When Luis Buñuel died at age 83, his obituary in The New York Times called him "an iconoclast, moralist and revolutionary who was a leader of avant-garde surrealism in his youth and a dominant international movie director half a century later." His first picture—made in the silent era—was called "the most famous short film ever made" by critic Roger Ebert, and his last film—made 48 years later—won him Best Director awards from the National Board of Review and the National Society of Film Critics. Writer Octavio Paz called Buñuel's work "the marriage of the film image to the poetic image, creating a new reality,... scandalous and subversive."

Often associated with the Surrealist movement of the 1920s, Buñuel created films in six decades, from the 1920s through the 1970s. His work spans two continents, three languages, and nearly every film genre, including experimental film, documentary, melodrama, musical, erotica, comedy, romance, costume dramas, fantasy, crime film, adventure, and western. Despite this variety, filmmaker John Huston believed that, regardless of genre, a Buñuel film is so distinctive as to be instantly recognizable, or, as Ingmar Bergman put it—not entirely approvingly—"Buñuel nearly always made Buñuel films."

Six of Buñuel's films are included in Sight & Sound's 2012 critic's poll of the top 250 films of all time. 14 of his films are included in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? list of the 1000 greatest films of all time, which is tied with Jean-Luc Godard for third most, and he ranks number 14 on their list of the top 250 directors.