Film director Mario Camus dies at 86

Film director Mario Camus has died at 86 in Santander, according to family sources informed the EFE agency. Camus is responsible for some of the most unforgettable films of Spanish cinema in recent decades, such as La colmena or Los santos inocentes.

For the adaptation of the novel by Camilo José Cela, he won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 1983; and only one year later, in 1984, he achieved a special mention from the ecumenical jury at the Cannes International Film Festival for Los santos inocentes, one of the most popular Spanish films in the history of our cinema. It was precisely because of his literary adaptations that he obtained more prestige in our industry, but Camus was a director capable of combining the authorial and the commercial.

A director who, before walking around Cannes or winning a Golden Bear, had directed the most commercial films at the service of the stars of the moment such as Raphael or Sara Montiel. For the first, he directed two of his most popular films, such as Say what they say or My great night. For Sara Montiel, she created a vehicle to show off like That Woman. He also flirted with genres such as the western in La cholera del viento (1970).

Camus never denied his most commercial films, but it is true that the international prestige of his literary adaptations allowed him to shoot much more personal works starting in the 90s, such as his approaches to the theme of ETA’s terrorism in Sombras en una Battle (1993 ) and La playa de los galgos (2002); or also his more political and socially charged films, such as After the Dream (1992), Townhouses (1996) and The Color of the Clouds (1998).

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