Spanish filmmaker José Luis García Sánchez dies at 85, Berlin Golden Bear winner

Death in Madrid

Spanish director José Luis García Sánchez died on Sunday, 25 October 2026, at the age of 85 in Madrid. Sources from the Academy of Cinema confirmed the death to Europa Press. El País reported that he had suffered from a neurological illness for some time. He died one day after the centenary of the birth of Rafael Azcona, his friend and frequent screenwriting partner.

Berlin prize and early career

Born in Salamanca in 1941, García Sánchez studied law and sociology. He made his feature debut in 1975 with El love feroz, a satire of the Transición, and followed it in 1976 with Colorín colorado. In 1978 Las truchas won the Golden Bear at the Berlin festival, shared ex aequo with Emilio Martínez-Lázaro for Las palabras de Max and Tomas Muñoz for Ascensor. El País describes the film as a black comedy, and it became the reference point of his career.

Films, documentaries and literary adaptations

In 1981 he directed the documentary Dolores about Dolores Ibárruri, known as La Pasionaria. In 1985 he worked with Rafael Azcona on La corte del Faraón, a comedy about censorship starring Ana Belén, Fernando Fernán Gómez and Antonio Banderas. LaSexta reports that the film earned him the Silver Shell for best director. His other adaptations of Valle-Inclán included Divinas palabras and Tirano Banderas, and El País also lists Tranvía a la Malvarrosa and Los muertos no se tocan, nene among his works.

Screenwriting, theatre and honours

García Sánchez won two Goya awards for screenwriting. The first came for Belle Époque, co-written with Fernando Trueba, and the second for the adapted screenplay of Tirano Banderas, written with Azcona. El País notes that he was nominated five times for the Goya for best screenplay. In 2017 he received the Espiga de Honor from the Seminci festival. He also staged El beso de la mujer araña by Manuel Puig in Spain, and he spoke about the stage in a recent interview with El País.

“I like theatre more than cinema. Theatre is sacred.”

His son, the director Víctor García León, was born to his marriage with Rosa León.