Albert Serra Spanish, b. 1975
Overview
"I want to give meaning to the history of the past, but to do it in real time, as if it were lived. This gives a special touch to my films, because you feel that I didn't have one single idea of the concrete meaning of what I wanted to say or what you have to feel or what you have to think. For me, this is the beauty, to see the past being born in front of you."
Albert Serra
Blending history, literature, and cinema, his films challenge conventional storytelling, offering poetic and visually striking explorations of time, memory, and power. Through deeply immersive narratives and bold artistic choices, his work redefines the boundaries between fiction and reality, earning international acclaim in the worlds of both film and contemporary art.
Biography
Photo by Jose Luis Roca
Born in Banyoles in 1975, he is a filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer. He earned a degree in Hispanic Philology, Literary Theory, and Comparative Literature from the University of Barcelona, where he also pursued initial studies in Art History.
His directorial debut, Honor de caballería, a loose adaptation of Don Quixote, premiered in the "Quinzaine des Réalisateurs" at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Two years later, his second feature, El cant dels ocells, inspired by the story of the Three Wise Men, was also showcased in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs and received widespread critical acclaim.
In 2010, he created Los nombres de Cristo for the MACBA exhibition "Are You Ready for TV?" and El Senyor ha fet en mi meravelles for CCCB’s "All the Letters. Cinematic Correspondences".
His work continued to push artistic boundaries in 2012 when he presented a 100-hour-long film, Los tres cerditos, at dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel. The following year, he released Historia de mi muerte, a film drawing from Casanova’s memoirs, which won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival and the Silver Puma at FICUNAM in Mexico.
In 2015, he contributed to the Venice Biennale as an artist with the film Singularity. His films have been the subject of retrospectives at renowned institutions, including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Tate Modern in London, and Arsenal in Berlin.
His 2016 feature, La mort de Louis XIV, starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, premiered in the Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival, earning the Jean Vigo Award and Best Film at the Jerusalem Film Festival.
In 2018, his film Roi Soleil won the Grand Prix in the International Competition at FID Marseille. The following year, he returned to Cannes with Liberté, featured in the Un Certain Regard section, where it won the Special Jury Prize.
Exhibitions
