The Films of Bigas Luna

A Project led by Professor Santiago Fouz Hernández, Durham University

The Bigas Luna Tribute is a series of international events (including film screenings, Q&A sessions, introductory talks, art exhibitions, food menus inspired by the films and socials) that aim to celebrate and disseminate the legacy of one of Spain’s most influential filmmakers of all time: José Juan Bigas Luna (1946-2013).

In March 2015 the events started in San Francisco and have since visited eighteen cities in eight different countries spanning across three continents, in collaboration with fifteen cinemas and three film festivals so far. With over 80 screenings to date there are plans to continue with more international events and further ramifications of the project. In San José the Bigas Luna Tribute was declared event of cultural interest by the Costa Rican government.

The Bigas Luna Tribute is managed by the filmmaker’s daughter (California-based art curator Betty Bigas) and Professor Santiago Fouz Hernández (Durham University, School of Modern Languages and Cultures). The tribute events showcase, in particular, the so-called ‘Iberian Portraits Trilogy’, which reflects on the rapidly-evolving gender and national identities in Spain following the country’s entry into the EU in 1986 and its global rebranding in the early 1990s with the Barcelona Olympics, the World Expo in Seville, the designation of Madrid as European Capital of Culture, and celebrations to mark the fifth centenary, all in 1992. Since 2017, the Bigas Luna Tribute also usually includes the posthumous documentary BigasxBigas (2016). The events have attracted considerable media attention, including reports in major newspapers such as The Guardian, The Guide in the UK, The Age in Australia, El país in Spain or La nación in Costa Rica, as well as several radio and podcast interviews and participation in television programmes in Spain (2021) and Mexico (2022).

The events are informed by Fouz’s research on Bigas Luna dating back to the early 2000s and most recently including a guest-edited special issue of Studies in Spanish and Latin American Cinemas (13.1, 2016) and the edited collections Spanish Erotic Cinema (Edinburgh University Press, 2017) and El legado cinematográfico de Bigas Luna (Tirant lo Blanch, 2020). Fouz is also completing a monograph, The Films of Bigas Luna (under contract with Manchester University Press). The project also includes a podcast launched in 2020 (first season, 20 episodes) currently in its second season, which includes interviews with Bigas Luna specialists and members of the Spanish film industry.

For more information, please visit www.bigaslunatribute.info or follow @bigaslunahomage (Twitter) or BigasLunaTribute (Instagram).