Joan Mariné, director of photography and last survivor of Laya Films, dies
He fought for the Second Republic with the camera and the rifle and later dedicated himself to photography and film restoration.
BarcelonaJoan Mariné (Barcelona, 1920) He died this Tuesday at the age of 104, as confirmed by the Acadèmia del Cinema Català. He embodied part of the history of cinema, but also that of the country. Director of photography, film restorer and researcher, he was the last survivor of the team of Laya Films, the film production company of the Generalitat during the Civil War. He was later director of photography for some of the most popular titles of the post-war period, from The big family until Stories from television, passing through the films of Joselito. For several decades he had been fully dedicated to film restoration.
In an interview in the ARA, Mariné recalled how during the Civil War he would rush out of the Laya Films offices to record everything that was happening in the city while it was being bombed. With the camera on his shoulder, he did not miss a single detail of the burial of the anarchist leader Buenaventura Durruti in 1936. He suffered exile and was imprisoned in the Argelès camp. At the ARA he explained how he escaped: "I jumped the wire and swam through the sea, avoiding the light of the lighthouse. And, in Spain, more concentration camps, until one day my father appeared."
When he returned he had something very clear: "After surviving the Civil War, I swore that I would dedicate my life to cinema," he said when he received the Honorary Goya, just a year ago, in 2024. "His career runs through the history of Spanish cinema, for his efforts in the conservation and restoration of our cinema," said the Spanish academy.
Decades dedicated to research
In fact, Mariné, an honorary member of the Catalan Film Academy, made many efforts to recover part of what was filmed during the Civil War but which Franco's troops took when they entered the Catalan capital in 1939. Mariné received many awards, including the Juan de la Cierva Research Prize.
Mariné began working in cinema at the age of 14 and did not give up his passion until practically the end of his life. He worked on the photography of more than 200 films. "I am the operator who has made the most films in Spain: 213," he said proudly. When the ARA interviewed him, he highlighted one in particular: Footprint of light (1943). "A scene had to be shot in Santa Maria del Mar, but the bishopric said no way. And I had the idea of making an enlargement of a photo of the chapel to mount a set that passed muster. When the producer saw it he said: "You can work for me whenever you want," he explained. He then devoted himself to researching and developing new techniques to improve the quality of the image.
