Alberto Rodríguez

Born in 1971, Alberto Rodríguez reaches his first success with the short film Bancos, which he co-directed with Santi Amodeo and was awarded on numerous occasions. He also shot his first feature film, El factor Pilgrim, with Amodeo. They wrote the script too, showing their great talent for comedy. He debuted as the single director of the movie El traje, which addresses social issues and immigration, but with a fun and lively story, full of humorous situations. The ultimate step forward was taken with 7 vírgenes, a youth working-class drama with an ambience of delinquency that revolutionized the Spanish film scene and started boosting the career of actor Juan José Ballesta. His next movie, After, is a drama that focuses on the effects of sex, alcohol and music on the relationship of three friends. It features popular actors Guillermo Toledo, Tristán Ulloa and Blanca Romero. In Grupo 7, Alberto Rodríguez sets the basis for the genre he seems to dominate the most: crime thriller. Featuring spectacular performances by Antonio de la Torre and Mario Casas, the movie turns him into one of the most appreciated directors in the Spanish film industry. This status was confirmed by his most critic and well-known film, La isla minima. The main characters are two ideologically opposed policemen brought to life by impressive performances by Raúl Arévalo and Javier Gutiérrez. It is set at the beginning of the 1980’s, a few years after the end of Franco’s dictatorship. The film inherits the spirit of Seven and delves into a southern remote village, located in the marshlands of river Guadalquivir, where the agents investigate the disappearance of two adolescent girls. Awarded with 10 Goya prizes, this dark chronicle made way to three distinctly different and stimulating new projects by Rodríguez: the bold comic short film for Estrella Damm Las pequeñas cosas, with terrific performances by Jean Reno and Laia Costa, the political adrenaline-filled film El hombre de las mil caras, based on real events, in which Eduard Fernández displays an astonishing performance playing Francisco Paesa, a renowned former Spanish secret agent that managed the most relevant operation against ETA, and finally La peste, a series in the form of a thriller that takes us to a dark Seville, during the 16th century. During the last year, he shot Modelo 77 in locations in Barcelona and Seville. It is a story of friendship, solidarity and freedom, inspired by real events and written with Rafael Cobos. It shows, once again, Spain’s recent history, telling the story of two convicts seeking for freedom. It is scheduled to be premiered next September 2022. He is currently shooting “Cortelazor”, an episode of the series APAGÓN for Movistar.