Gonzalo Suárez dies, a free and unclassifiable benchmark of Spanish cinema

BarcelonaGonzalo Suárez (Oviedo, 1934-2026) has died at 92, leaving behind one of the most singular trajectories in Spanish cinema of recent decades. The Asturian writer, journalist, and film director was recognized with the 2026 Honorary Goya for his ability to experiment with all genres and transgress the limits of conventional narrative. “I am very happy with this award because it covers my entire body of work, although I regret that it does not catch me making films. I would like to say action and cut again because cinema is action,” said this multifaceted professional when he received the Goya in Barcelona.

Adventure, the act of going beyond, marked the life of Gonzalo Suárez. “The adventure of not knowing where I was going; and that is how it went for me, I arrived where I was not going,” said Suárez once, who lamented that cinema “is more in the hands of platforms than the producers of the past that I miss, like Emiliano Piedra.” “They were producers for whom films were part of themselves, they put their spirit and strength into them, and they shared it without taking liberty,” he continued. He kept an “extraordinary” memory of the Barcelona of the sixties, where he began with journalism, literature, and cinema. “I felt very welcomed immediately,” he recalled.

A graduate in philosophy and letters, Suárez arrived at cinema from literature and journalism, where he signed chronicles and interviews under the pseudonym Martín Girard. He eventually collected those articles in the work La suela de mis zapatos. Without having passed through any film school, he made the leap to directing in an autodidactic way at the end of the sixties.

From his extensive filmography, titles such as La regenta (1974), Parranda (1977), Epílogo (1984) and the television miniseries Los pazos de Ulloa (1985) stand out. His great recognition from the public and critics arrived with Remando al viento (1988), a poetic evocation about the origin of the Frankenstein myth starring Hugh Grant that earned him the Goya for Best Director and the Silver Shell at the San Sebastián Festival. Subsequently, he signed films such as Don Juan en los infiernos (1991), El detective y la muerte (1994) and El portero (2000). Awarded the National Cinematography Prize (1991), Gonzalo Suárez defined life and art as a constant attempt to capture the happy and unattainable moment.