Jordi Cadena i Casanovas (Barcelona, March 11, 1947)
Director, screenwriter and producer of Catalan cinema. He was one of the fifteen founders of the Association of Filmmakers in Catalonia. He has collaborated in Fotogramas, Dirigido por…, Flash Foto, Ajoblanco, among other publications.
He is one of the most important contemporary Catalan filmmakers; since 1967 has an experience with essential titles such as És quan dormo que hi veig clar or La señora, portraits of extraordinary painters like Guinovart, Tharrats or Vilacasas, documentaries like Noches de Jazz or the historical one that he shot with Albert Abril on the Diada de Catalunya – 1977. He has been professor of script and direction in the University Pompeu Fabra and the Sant Ignasi Polytechnical Institute.
After studying Law and Journalism, and thanks to a grant from the Castellblanch Foundation, he conducted management practices in Warsaw with Krzysztof Zanussi.
In 1987 he achieved a commercial success with the morbid desires of La señora, to the greater glory of Sílvia Tortosa, which was seen in twenty-one countries and raised in Spain one hundred million pesetas.
But Jordi Cadena revealed himself as a “filmmaker of cult movies” with És quan dormo que hi veig clar, a cult film of art and essay in black and white and in which faced the challenge of visually and reflexively approaching the poetry of J.V. Foix.
Together with Judith Colell, the 2010 Elisa K premiered a “nouvelle vague” review of the film narrative by adapting the novel Elisa Kiseljak Lolita Bosch on the rape of an eleven-year-old girl.
Main filmography
1977 – L’obscura història de la cosina Montse, adapted from the novel by Juan Marsé
1981 – Barcelona sud
1987 – La señora (Festivals in London, Hong Kong, Montreal, Los Angeles etc.) Best Director and Actress at the Iberian Expression Festival of Portugal,
Awards Best Director and Interpretation of the Cinematography Awards of the Generalitat de Catalunya).
1989 – És quan dormo que hi veig clar (Festivals of Rimini, Sidney, Barcelona, Alcalá, etc. Best Script Award of the Institut de les Lletres Catalanes)
1991 – Els papers d’Aspern (Festivals of San Sebastián, London, Chicago, Troia, Tetouan, Huelva, etc. Best Actress Festival of Arcachon, France).
1995 – Nexe
2010 – Els pasos perduts
2010 – Elisa K, co-directed with Judith Colell, adaptation of the novel by Lolita Bosch. National Prize of Cinematography of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Special Jury Prize San Sebastián Festival, 5 Nominations to the Gaudí Awards, 1 Nomination to the Goya Awards, Special Mention Festival de
Nantes, Audience Award at Avicine Festival , Sant Jordi Award of the Spanish critic to the best feminine interpretation and participation in more than 20 festivals: London, Marseille, Stockholm, Bahamas, New York, Guadalajara (Mexico), Istanbul, Rome etc.)
2013 – La por. Five Nominations to the Gaudí Awards and Gaudí to the best actor, London Film Festival, SEMiNCI of Valladolid, Shows Cine Europa de Santiago de Compostela, Nantes Festival (Special Mention and Prix Jury Jeune), Uruguayan Festival (FIPRESCI Mention) FIC-CAT (Best Film) …
2016 – L’amant del silenci. Special Jury Prize of the Begur International Film Festival.
He received the Generalitat Award for best director in 1988. And together with Judith Colell has received the National Award for Culture in the category of Cinema.