Albert Serra

Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Spain

Birth : 10 September 1975

Career : 19 years

Age : 49 years

Albert Serra is a director, producer and screenwriter born in 1975 in Banyoles, Catalonia (Spain). He trained at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in film studies.

He became known in 2006 with his first feature film "Cerdà", but it was with "Le Chant des oiseaux" (El cant dels ocells) in 2008 that his reputation was solidified. Serra is considered an auteur of independent cinema, whose style is characterized by slow, visually distinct films that often deviate from traditional narrative conventions. He often explores philosophical, historical and religious themes in his films.

PRESENCES AT THE JURY

President

SAUVAGE Prize Competition - 2024

Biography

Born in Banyoles in 1975, Albert Serra is a Catalan artist and director. A graduate in Spanish philology and literary theory, he gained international recognition with his first feature film, "Honor de cavallera", a free adaptation of Don Quixote selected for the Directors' Fortnight in 2006.

He works with friends, non-professional actors from his village, wanting to keep a holiday atmosphere during filming. Albert Serra has three rules that he imposes on his team: never answer the director who speaks to the actors during takes, never stop acting, never look at the director.

For his second film in 2008, "Le chant des oiseaux", Serra was inspired by the traditional Catalan Christmas song "El cant dels ocells" and reunited with the same troupe to tell the story of the journey of the Three Wise Men guided by the shepherd's star in search of the baby Jesus.

In 2013, he was given carte blanche by the Centre Pompidou in Paris as part of a correspondence with Argentinian filmmaker Lisandro Alonso. The same year, "Histoire de ma mort", inspired by Casanova's Memoirs, won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Festival. "La Mort de Louis XIV", with Jean-Pierre Léaud in the role of the Sun King, was presented in the Official Selection at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

In 2019, his film Liberté explores a night of libertinism in a small wood, during the French Revolution. The film received the Special Jury Prize at Cannes in the “un certain regard” section.

"Pacifiction" is his first film set in our time. Serra's filming method is pushed to its paroxysm, in long improvisation scenes guided by earpieces by the director. The film is presented in the official selection at Cannes and receives the César for Best Actor (Benoît Magimel) and Best Cinematography (Artur Tort).

FILMS AT THE FESTIVAL

Pacifiction

Albert Serra

2022, France / Spain / Germany / Portugal

Awards

Lumière de la presse étrangère

Best direction 2023

Pacifiction - Tourment sur les îles

Cannes Film Festival

Un Certain Regard 2019

Liberté

Jean Vigo Prize

Feature film 2016

La Mort de Louis XIV

Locarno Film Festival

International competition 2013

Histoire de ma mort

Press

“A filmmaker who is not afraid of being disconnected from the audience's expectations, Albert Serra prefers suspended time and contemplation to frenetic action. His films are exorcisms, meditations on man, history and religion.”Le Monde.

“A master of space and time, Serra introduces heavy silences and extreme slowness, in order to make us feel the depth of the existences he depicts.”Cahiers du cinéma.

“Albert Serra overturns the codes of historical cinema with his films which, instead of dramatizing History, seek to make it closer to our collective unconscious. A radical cinema, both slow and captivating.”Libération.

“The universe of Albert Serra, both austere and poetic, pushes for a rereading of the classic narrative of cinema. His films are acts of resistance against the speed and superficiality of modern cinema.”Le Figaro.

“Serra is a filmmaker who operates in spaces where the conventions of storytelling dissolve. His films are challenging, but for those who dare to embrace its slowness and abstraction, there is infinite beauty.”The Guardian.