Ángel de la Cruz

Category: Writer and cinema director
Birth Date: 12th June 1963
Birth Place: A Coruña
 Curriculum

During the 80’s he combined his studies on Architecture with his job at TG, Colaboradores, S.L. in A Coruña. At the end of that decade, he began to work as a story-board sketcher and decorator for the audiovisual sector in the Galician producer Luz Directa. He got in touch with cinema in 1993 as decoration assistant of Félix Murcia in Tirano Banderas (José Luís García Sánchez, 1993) and then in Crucifixion Island, (John Gugolka, 1994). He started his activity as scriptwriter and director in 1995-97 with the trilogy Sitcom Show, Paranoia Digital and Más difícil todavía, produced by the Image and Sound School in A Coruña. On 28th October 1994, he founded Artemática, S.L.U. and from that moment onwards, he combined different production, script, direction and decoration works in several cinema productions and TV like Cineclips and Erotips as well as small animation sketches made by Juan Padrón and produced by Juan José Mendy (ISKRA) as a scriptwriter for Canal Plus, works as decorator in shorts like ‘Afonía’, ‘Isolina do Caurel’, (by Chema Gagino, 1996 and 1997 respectively), ‘Postales de la India’ (Juanjo Díaz Polo, 1999) or the programmes of the Galician autonomic channel ‘¿Imos Aló?’ (Voz Audiovisual) and ‘Camaleo, aprende a consumir’ (Continental Producciones). He was manager of the Galician Association of Independent Producers, AGAPI (1997-98) and collaborated with Cinematógrafo Films, Perro Verde Films, Elemental Films, Dygra Films, IJV Producciones, Adivina Producciones, Centroña Producións Audiovisuais, Filmanova, Filmax, Producciones La Iguana, Vamos a Ver Televisión, Luz Directa, Continental Producciones and Voz Audiovisual, among others.

‘El bosque animado, sentirás su magia’ (The living forest, 2001) was his first film as scriptwriter. It was an adaptation of the homonymous book by Wenceslao Fernández Flórez. Then, he directed ‘El sueño de una noche de San Juan’ (Midsummer night, 2005), which was inspired in the play ‘El sueño de una noche de verano’ by William Shakespeare. Both films were awarded Goyas of the Spanish Academy of Arts and Cinematographic Sciences.

In 2000, he produced, with Artemática, and wrote the script of the short Sandra (Héctor Diéguez González, 2000). In 2008, he produced, wrote and directed his first fiction film titled ‘Los muertos van deprisa’ (Lost in Galicia, 2009) for Artemática too. As a scriptwriter and executive producer, he presented ‘Arrugas’ by Ignacio Ferreras (Wrinkles, 2011), based on the popular comic by Paco Roca. With this film, he was awarded the Goya 2012 for the Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Animation Film. In 2013, he produced ‘Querida Gina’, a documentary directed by Susana Sotelo, and ‘Todos os Santos’, a film for TVG directed by Chema Gagino and script by José Antonio Pastor. It was finalist in the third edition of Pilar Miró Award, organized by the TV Academy. In the filming of this documentary he also participated as artistic director and actor. He also worked in documentaries, series and programmes of the Galician autonomic channel and wrote and directed several Mestre Mateo Awards ceremonies. The name ‘Mestre Mateo’ for these awards was approved by the Galician Audiovisual Academy at the proposal of Ángel de la Cruz himself, vice-chairman of the board of directors. The Galician Academy gave him the original statuette, which was designed by Laura Blanco, for his 40th birthday; copies from the original statuette are made for the annual awards.

As a writer, he published ‘El cuento del aval’ (several authors, Ir indo, 2000) and the novels ‘Compostellanum’ (Editorial Mandaio , 2004) and ‘O descenso do derradeiro ocaso’, which was awarded the prize of the 4th edition of Relatos por Entregas de La Voz de Galicia (Sotelo Blanco, first edition: 2005, second edition: 2007)

He worked as a teacher from 2009 to 2011 and taught Cinema direction, production and TV programme planning, cinema production, distribution and exhibition, aesthetics and art management and communication and marketing techniques in the Faculty of Communication and Humanities of the European University of Madrid. From 2010 to 2012, he worked as a teacher in the MA in creation and idea generation in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Communication of the University of Vigo. He has given workshops on script and animation, among others, in A Coruña, Pamplona, Santiago de Compostela, Caracas, Río de Janeiro, Tinfuf, etc.

He is a member of the Spanish Academy of Arts and Audiovisual Sciences and he is a foundation member of the Galician Audiovisual Academy. He is a foundation member of CREA (Galician Association of Directors and Producers), AGAG (Galician Association of Scriptwriters) and AEC (State Cinema Association). He is a member of the Association of Writers in Galician Language, FAPAE (Spanish Federation of Associations of Audiovisual Producers), SGAE (Management Society of Authors and Editors), EGEDA (Management Institution of Audiovisual Rights) and CEDRO (Spanish Centre of Reprographic Rights). He was an honourable scholar of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Communication (University of Vigo).

 Work & Activities

FILMOGRAPHY

‘¿Imos aló?’ (1990), course on Galician language by Siro López for TVG (as decorator)

‘Tirano Banderas’ (1993), a film by José Luis García Sánchez (as decoration assistant)

‘Crucifixion Island’ (1994), a film by John Gugolka (as decoration assistant)

‘Sitcom show’ (1995), short (as director and scriptwriter)

‘Afonía’ (1996), a short by Chema Gagino (as artistic director)

‘Recuerdos de un amante neurótico’ (1996), a short by Cheché Carmona (as scriptwriter and decorator)

‘Paranoia digital’ (1996), short (as director and scriptwriter)

‘Camaleo, aprende a consumir’ (1996), a children’s programme by Carlos Dávila for TVG (as decorator)

‘Cinecilps’ (1997), an animation microspace by Juan Padrón for Canal Plus (as scriptwriter)

‘Erotips’ (1997), an animation microspace by Juan Padrón for Canal Plus (as scriptwriter)

‘Bicho’ (1997), an animation videogame and short by Manolo Gómez (as scriptwriter)

‘Isolina do Caurel’ (1997), a short by Chema Gagino (as artistic director)

‘O cambio’ (1997), a short by Ignacio Vilar (as artistic director)

‘Más difícil todavía’ (1998), short (as director and scriptwriter)

‘Postales de la India’ (1999), a short by Juanjo Díaz Polo (as artistic director)

‘Sandra’ (2000), a short by Héctor Diéguez González (as producer and scriptwriter)

‘Dagon, la secta del mar’ (2001), a film by Stuart Gordon.

‘El bosque animado, sentirás su magia’ (2001), an animation film (as director and scriptwriter)

‘Sueños de papel. A literatura galega no cine’ (2002), a documentary for TVG (as director and scriptwriter)

‘As leis de Celavella’ (2003), a serial for TVG, (2 episodes, as scriptwriter)

‘Cifras y Letras’ (2003-2005), a contest for TeleMadrid, (82 programmes as scriptwriter)

‘El sueño de una noche de San Juan’ (2005), animation film, (as director and scripwriter)

‘Cifras e Letras’ (2006-2007), a contest by Paco Lodeiro for TVG, (52 programmes as scriptwriter)

‘Los muertos van deprisa’ (2008), director, scriptwriter and producer.

‘Punto muerto’ (2010), a humour serial for TV (pilot episode, as director and scriptwriter)

‘Delincuentes torpes’ (2011), a humour programme for TVG (13 programmes as director and scriptwriter)

‘Arrugas’ (2012), an animation film by Ignacio Ferreras, (as scriptwriter and executive producer)

‘Querida Gina’ (2013), a documentary film by Susana Sotelo, (as producer)

‘Joke Bussines’ (2013), a web serial by Israel Nava and Deborah Vukusic, (2 episodes as actor).

‘Todos os Santos’ (2013), a film by Chema Gagino for TV, (as producer, artistic director and actor).

 

NARRATIVE

‘El cuento del aval’ (several authors, Editorial Ir indo, 2000).

‘Compostellanum’ (Mandaio , 2004).

‘O descenso do derradeiro ocaso’ (Sotelo Blanco, first edition: 2005, second edition: 2007).

 Other Interesting Aspects

AWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS

Goya 2012 to the Best Animation Film for ‘Arrugas’.

Goya 2012 to the Best Adapted Screenplay for ‘Arrugas’.

Preselection for the Oscar ® 2011 to the Best Animation Film for ‘Arrugas’.

Nominee to the Best European Animation Film of the Academy of European Cinema for ‘Arrugas’.

Prize of the public in the International Festival of Animation Cinema of Brussels (Anima, 2012) for ‘Arrugas’.

Nomination to the Annie Awards to the Best Animation Film (Los Ángeles, 2011) for ‘Arrugas’.

Special Prize of the Jury at Annecy Animation Film Festival 2012 for ‘Arrugas’.

Best Animation Film at the Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film 2012 for ‘Arrugas’.

Best Opera Prima at Nantes Animation Film Festival 2012 for ‘Arrugas’.

Best Animation Producer at the Cartoon Movie of Lyon 2012 for ‘Arrugas’.

Best Animation Film at the Ottawa Animation Film Festival 2012 for ‘Arrugas’.

Nine Mestre Mateo Prizes included the prize to the Best Film 2009 for ‘Los muertos van deprisa’.

Juliam Richards Award to the Best Director in BRAGACINE 2010 for ‘Los muertos van deprisa’.

Manoel de Oliveira Award to the Best Director at the Porto Independent Cinema Festival 2009 for ‘Los muertos van deprisa’.

Goya 2006 to the Best Animation Film for ‘El sueño de una noche de San Juan’.

Two Mestre Mateo Awards (Best Sound Track and Best Montage) for ‘El sueño de una noche de San Juan’.

Prize to the best technological development postproduction for ‘El sueño de una noche de San Juan’.

Winner of the fourth edition of the contest "Relatos por Entregas" - La Voz de Galicia in 2004 for the novel ‘O descenso do derradeiro ocaso’.

Finalist of the third edition of the contest "Relatos por Entregas" - La Voz de Galicia in 2003 for the novel ‘Compostelanum’.

Goya 2002 to the Best Animation Film for ‘El bosque animado’.

Goya 2002 to the Best Original Song for ‘El bosque animado’.

Preselection for the Oscar ® 2002 to the Best Animation Film for ‘El bosque animado’.

Seven Mestre Mateo Awards for ‘El bosque animado’.

Special Critic Prize at ‘Fantasporto’ International Cinema Festival 2002 for ‘El bosque animado’.

Prize to the Best Animation Film at the Rimouski International Animation Festival, Québec (Canada) in 2003 for ‘El bosque animado’.

Special prize of the public at the International Festival of Zlin, Prague (Czech Republic) in 2003 for ‘El bosque animado’.

Prize to the Best Animation Film at the “Children’s Film Festival” of Chicago (USA) in 2003 for ‘El bosque animado’.

Sennior Prize at the International Cinema Festival of Cannes in 2003 for ‘El bosque animado’.

Rosa del Desierto Award to the Best Film at the First International Cinema Festival of the Sahara, Tinduf (Algeria) in 2003 for ‘El bosque animado’.

Galicia Communication Award (Xunta de Galicia, 2001) for ‘El bosque animado’.

Finalist of Prince Felipe Award in 2002 with ‘El bosque animado’.

Finalist in the Awards of the Academy of Arts and Music Sciences in 2002 for the best soundtrack with ‘El bosque animado’.

Agapi Awards (2001) for Sandra.

Winner of "Relatos de Verán" - La Voz de Galicia (2000) with ‘El cuento del aval’.

Eight Agapi Awards (1997) for ‘Más difícil todavía’.

Three Agapi Awards (1996) for ‘Paranoia digital’.

Laus Award to the Best Multimedia Design, Barcelona (1998) for ‘Bicho’.

Agapi to the Best Animation Short (1997) for ‘Bicho’.