• Obituary: Death José Luis Cuerda, which is not little
  • Reactions: Social networks fire José Luis Cuerda
  • Meeting: Conversation by Alejandro Amenábar and José Luis Cuerda

I met José Luis by chance, as true things sometimes happen. I was a little over 20 years old , had shot a short film and one of them fell into his hands. I don't know how or when he saw it, but I remember the day he called my house to invite me to the filming of Thus in heaven and on earth , in 1995.

In my dismissal of that time I sat directly in his director's chair and he, with that slyness that characterized him and until the end he held up, reproached me very seriously: "Get up immediately from there" . It was his manchego way of making every moment a wink of irony, in the best mood.

Our friendship began at that time and was completely disinterested . Neither I had a script nor he was then a producer. It was later when I sent him the thesis script, after he passed by a production company. He agreed to send the project and told me, again very serious: "But do not hurry or overwhelm me, I will read it when I can and I will tell you something."

Three days later the phone rang. It was him. I proposed something incredible: produce the film. So José Luis was my father in the cinema and my second father in life . Even a moral reference. I started this for him and he started in film production with me. We were a singular couple . I would not be able to imagine something like Dawn that is not little and he would not be able to make some of the stories that I developed. In that contrast we strengthen our friendship.

A talk between José Luis Cuerda and Alejandro Amenábar

He was never a man to give advice, but some gave me and I know how useful they have been in my life. Because José Luis was that, a master of life, of irony, of natural talent , of Manchego grace that shot out in all directions.

Among his lessons that I have there is a main one: "Young directors must first learn to be people . " He was always faithful to that will. He knew how to be at street level, with a flatness that was an ethic and an aesthetic of sage in life. His intuition for the cinema was amazing. Riding movies showed a very powerful clarity and anticipation ability.

I will never forget that first call, when I was a kid with more appetite than ambition. The voice of José Luis on the other side of the phone. The invitation to shoot. Neither he nor I could imagine that day that a common project, the cinema we made together, would link us forever. I owe him a lot of who I am . And within that gratitude goes also my admiration, my respect, my hug, my sadness today and my strange orphanhood of friend.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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