22nd February, Luis Buñuel is born in Calanda

Luis Buñuel Portolés was born on 22 February 1900 in the town of Calanda, Teruel. This native of Teruel is considered one of the great geniuses of the seventh art. He directed films that are part of Surrealism and that have been an inspiration for other great international directors. Buñuel spent most of his film career in Mexico and France.

Although he was born in Calanda, he moved with his family to Zaragoza when he was very young, where he spent his early years of schooling. In 1917 he entered the Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid to study to become an agricultural engineer, but he was forced by his father to do so and ended up graduating in Philosophy and Arts. At the Residencia de Estudiantes he met, among others, Federico García Lorca and Salvador Dalí, with whom he collaborated on film projects such as "Un perro andaluz". Calandino began working in the film industry in Paris, where he was Jean Epstein's assistant director.

Buñuel's relationship with his hometown is a constant in his cinematographic work. There are numerous allusions to the rural world, to his childhood and adolescent memories, to its history and, above all, to its culture and traditions. The sound of the drums and bass drums of Easter Week play a special role in his life and work.

Luis Buñuel died in Mexico on 29 July 1983, three years before he had made his last trip to Spain.

The CBC (Centro Buñuel de Calanda) is located in Calanda and was inaugurated on 22 February 2000, coinciding with the first centenary of his birth. The CBC is designed as a reference centre both for experts in the work of the filmmaker and cinematographic art, in general, and for a diverse public, interested in learning about the work and life of the director.