Fernando Méndez-Leite

Fernando Méndez-Leite Serrano (born 6 May 1944) is a Spanish film critic, lecturer and filmmaker. He has also worked in theatre and television.[1] He became the president of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain in 2022.

Fernando Méndez-Leite
Attending the 37th Goya Awards
Born
Fernando Méndez-Leite Serrano

(1944-05-06) 6 May 1944 (age 80)
Madrid, Spain
Occupations
  • Film critic
  • film director
  • theatre director
  • cultural manager
  • television director
  • university lecturer
  • screenwriter
  • playwright
PartnerFiorella Faltoyano

Biography

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Fernando Méndez-Leite Serrano was born in Madrid on 6 May 1944,[1][2] son to Fernando Méndez-Leite von Haffe [ca],[3][4] a falangist film writer, author of a History of the Spanish Cinema.[5] He studied filmmaking at the EOC [es] for two years after graduating in law from the University of Madrid in 1968.[4][6]

He has been active as a film critic since 1966, writing for publications such as Pueblo [es], Diario 16, Fotogramas and Guía del Ocio de Madrid, and, from 1968 to 1981, as a lecturer on Film Theory and History of Contemporary Cinema at the University of Valladolid.[2]

Among other institutional and academic positions, he has helmed the ICAA (1986–1988), the ECAM (1994–2012), and, since 2022, the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain.[1] A member of the Málaga Film Festival's managing committee since its inception, he was worked as a film festival programmer and as a liaison with the press there.[1]

He has had one daughter with her partner Fiorella Faltoyano: actress and acting teacher Clara Méndez-Leite.[4][7][8]

Filmography

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Books

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  • Historia del cine español en 100 películas. Madrid: Jupey. 1985.
  • Argentina en el cine español. Madrid: Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales. 1993.

References

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