FILMS
«There is a reason why Carlos Atanes is one of the premier underground filmmakers. He makes utterly insane, funny and thought-out pieces of works that will never fully leave your mind.» (Ronny Carlsson, Film Bizarro)
Atanes's filmography as director and screenwriter is an odd mix of fantasy, dreamlike and weirdness. The audience's reception has been always polarised, but it has also achieved European and American film festivals recognition (Great Prize from the Athens Panorama of Independent Filmmakers and nominations from European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation, the Tel-Aviv's Icon, the BUT Film Festival in The Netherlands, and so on) and acclaim from American underground film reviewers.
«Atanes has built up quite the cult following in underground circles since first appearing on the scene in 1991 with his short film The Marvellous World of the Cucu Bird. He then went on to make twelve more shorts including a documentary. The filmmaker made his first released feature with 2004’s FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions that went on to win the Best Feature Film Award at the Athens Panorama of Independent Filmmakers the following year. His body of work also includes unreleased productions. Carlos Atanes remains a fiercely independent filmmaker working outside of the Spanish film industry from where he receives no support shooting his work on video on self-financed miniscule budgets that have forced him to shoot up to just like four weeks of footage over the course of months or even an entire year. (...) The filmmaker’s style is considered original provocative surrealism that often features the themes of alternative realities, exile, oppression and power. A term to label his work was even coined - "Atanic".» (Dave J. Wilson, Cinematic Shocks)
His most outstanding films are the short films The Marvellous World of the Cúcù Bird (1991), Welcome to Spain (1999), Scream Queen (2008) and Romance Bizarro (2017); the medium-length films The metamorphosis of Franz Kafka (1993) and Perdurabo (Where is Aleister Crowley?) (2003); and the feature films FAQ (2004), Proxima (2007), Maximum Shame (2010) and Gallino, the Chicken System (2012).
«Original, bizarre, provocative, Atanes' principal influences are Buñuel, Arrabal, and Jean Cocteau as well as Greenaway, Lynch, Cronenberg, Ionesco, Stanislaw Lem, Philip K. Dick, and Boris Vian, among others.»
Rob Smart, Bright Lights Film Journal
«Behind Atanes' stories hides a subworld of beauty and anti-poetry that deserves the attention of fans of the weird.»
Luca di Manteca, Almas Oscuras
«High risk film, underground film, film under the surface... The work of Carlos Atanes is anything but complacent thing, and maybe that's what makes his films are necessary.»
Hilario J. Rodríguez, Cine XXI
«Atanes' films are disturbing and provocative piece of art.»
Esa Linna, EMVG
«One of the few directors who can mix the surreal and real together and have neither seem out of place.»
David Carter, Film Fanaddict
«Carlos Atanes makes completely strange scenarios very interesting with his powerful visuals.»
Verislav Kucan, Evil Dread
«[One] of those authentic, different filmmakers, dedicated to creating their own expressive tools.»
Alejandro Yamgotchian, Arte 7
«Where he gets his ideas from? I don’t know. I really don’t know. But what he creates is fantastic.»
Frank Schonewille, BUT Film Festival
«Saying that Carlos Atanes is an odd filmmaker is a slight euphemism.»
Jérôme Spenlehauer, Cinetrange
«Film can also be something else, and it can offer us different emotions and pleasures, pure, dark and unadulterated. Because when the alternative cinema ceases to be synonymous with freedom, it will not make sense to continue existing, but even then, we will always have Atanes as a warm shelter to turn to.»
Pablo Vázquez, La Paz Mundial
«Carlos Atanes broadens your mind.»
The Angry Princess, This Is Some Scene
«Atanes, already Spain’s underground master.»
Mike Everleth, Underground Fillm Journal
AWARDS AND MENTIONS
Gallino, the Chicken System: One of the 2013 Best Films according to Film Bizarro
Winner 2012 Biggest Mindfuck Award (FilmBizarro.com) for Maximum Shame
Nominated for Weirdest Picture of 2011 (Weirdcademy Awards) for Maximum Shame
Nominated for Best Feature Film at BUT Film Festival (Breda, The Netherlands, 2010) for Maximum Shame
Maximum Shame: One of the 2010 Five Movies of the Year according to Underground Film Journal
Maximum Shame: One of the 2010 Eleven More Memorable Independent Films according to Pulpmovies
Nominated for Icon Award to the Best Feature Film at Icon International Fantasy Film Festival (Tel Aviv, 2007) for PROXIMA
Nominated for Ignotus Award to the 2007 Best Spanish Film (Spanish Science Fiction Association, AEFCFT) for PROXIMA
Winner Award to Culture and Arts 2007 (University of Huelva's 3 de Marzo Association) for PROXIMA
Nominated to Award for Best European Motion Picture from the Fantasy Genre (Méliès d'Argent) at Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Festival (Porto, 2006) for FAQ: Frequenlty Asked Questions
Winner Best Feature Film Award, International Panorama of Independent Filmmakers (Athens, 2005) for FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
Official selections around the world:
Cinema Jove de València
Marató de l'Espectacle de Barcelona
Festival de Cine Independiente de Elche
FIN-RAV de Vitoria
Mostra de Cinema Alternatiu de Barcelona
Mostra de la Filmoteca de Barcelona
Festival de Video de Lorca
Festival Internacional de Cinema de Sitges
Tübingen Film Festival
Festival Internacional de Cinema i Video de Girona
Szigetvar and Sellye Retina International Video Meeting
Budapest Mücsarnok
Muestra "Batofar", Paris
International Bad Liebensteiner Filmtage
Split International Film & Video Festival
Ebensee Festival der Nationen
Mostra de l'Hospital de la Santa Creu de Barcelona
Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona
Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre
Istambul Bilgi Sinema
Zemos98.6 de Sevilla
XXII Hispacon en Cádiz y Sevilla
Centro Conde Duque de Madrid
FNAC El Triangle de Barcelona
Algeciras Fantastika
Casa Colón de Huelva
Festival Catacumba en Quart de Poblet y Godella
Detroit Planet Ant Video & Film Festival
DIBA Barcelona Digital Film Festival
Lyon Festival Cinéma Nouvelle Génération
Glasgow World Sci-Fi Convention & Eurocon
Atlanta Underground Film Festival
Seattle Cascadia Con North American SF Convention
Nyiregyhaza Vidor Festival
Zoom Igualada
Miskolc International Festival of Young Filmmakers
Cork Film Festival
Festival de Cine de Bogotá
Toronto Fantasy Worldwide International Film Festival
Muestra Independiente de Cine y Video de Morelia
Certamen Nacional de Cinema de Terrassa
Porto International Film Festival Fantasporto
Fantasporto em Lisboa
London International Sci-Fi fantastic Film Festival
REC Festival de Cinema de Tarragona
Conversano Imaginaria Film Festival
Montevideo Fantástico
Copenhagen Eurocon Europe Sci Fi Con
Basel Clair Obscur Filmfestival
IV Muestra del Audiovisual Andaluz en Sevilla
Philadelphia Backseat Film Festival
Breda BUT Underground Film Festival
Paris Optica Festival
Minneapolis Underground Film Festival
New York Zero Film Festival
Kiel Fetisch Film Festival
Archivo y Biblioteca Nacionales / Optica Festival, Sucre
Sala Berlanga in Madrid
The Overkill Festival at Enschede
The Hollywood Theatre at Portland
Detroit Underground Film Festival
Portland Underground Film Festival
Bogotá Short Film Festival / BOGOSHORTS
Filmarchiv Austria / Metro-Kinokulturhaus
STUFF MX Film Festival
Florida Hispanic Culture Film Festival
New Year / New York 2020 - The Filmmakers' Coop
...among others.