Julio Medem

This thorough account of the life and films of the Spanish-Basque filmmaker Julio Medem is the first book in English on the internationally renowned writer-director of Vacas , La ardilla roja (Red Squirrel), Tierra , ‘Los amantes del circulo polar (Lovers of the Arctic Circle), Lucia y el sexo (Sex and Lucia), La pelota vasca: la piel contra la piedra (Basque Ball) and Caotica Ana (Chaotic Ana). Based upon original interviews with Medem and many of his closest collaborators by the author, an established expert on Spanish cinema, this book provides unique access to Medem during the production of his incendiary documentary Basque Ball, as well as revealing interviews with composer Alberto Iglesias, actors Emma Suarez, Carmelo Gomez and Nancho Novo, cinematographers, editors and producers. Initial chapters explore Medem’s childhood, adolescence and education and examine his earliest short films and critical writings against a background of a dramatically changing Spain. Later chapters provide accounts of the genesis, production and release of Medem’s challenging and sensual films, feeding into complex but lucid analyses of their meanings, both political and personal, in which Stone draws on traditions and innovations in Basque art, Spanish cinema and European philosophy to create a complete and provocative portrait of Medem and his work. An essential resource for academics and students of the films of Medem as well as of contemporary World cinema, this book offers a timely and profound examination of the writer-director’s work to date in the context of contemporary Spain and Basque, Spanish and European cinema.