Fernando Colomo Reflects on 50 Years of Spanish Cinema

The 5th Tenerife Spanish Film Showcase, which ran from last Thursday to Sunday, was part of the University of La Laguna's (ULL) program called 'For Freedom, Spain after 1975.' The event was organized by the Charlas de Cine Cultural Association, the ULL, and ALDA Producciones, and took place at Multicines Tenerife.

Over four days, the showcase celebrated Spanish cinema. Director and actor Carlos Iglesias attended, with screenings of his films One Franc, 14 Pesetas (2017) and The Bullet (2025). Actress Eloísa Vargas, who appeared in both films, was also present. Other guests included director, screenwriter, actor, and producer Fernando Colomo, and actress Mercedes Sampietro, who was this year's guest of honor. Sampietro was scheduled to lead a discussion after a screening of Common Places (Adolfo Aristarain, 2002).

In this interview, Fernando Colomo (born in Madrid, 1946) discusses two of his films shown at the showcase: The Barbarian Years (1998) and The Delights of the Garden (2025). He also talks about directing himself as an actor and co-writing a screenplay with his son Pablo, in which both have roles. Additionally, Colomo, who has a 50-year career and has made films like The Sky Line, Going Down to Morocco, Happy but Not Too Much, and South of Granada, reflects on his role as a producer and how filmmaking has changed over time.

–'The Delights of the Garden' features an abstract painter facing financial ruin and a difficult life. This could be a drama, but you chose comedy. What did humor allow you to do in this story? “When I plan a film, I don't decide it has to be a comedy from the start. Even when I begin writing the first drafts of the script, I might think of some jokes, but I usually remove them later. Comedy often comes naturally when I start writing a story. Some things are easier to express through humor, and they seem to resonate more simply with us when they make us laugh a little.”

“I don't plan to use comedy; it just happens naturally when I start writing.”

–What is it like to direct yourself? What does Fernando Colomo the director ask of Fernando Colomo the actor? “Someone once told Woody Allen that directing and acting in the same film meant double the work. He replied that it was actually half, because when you're in front of the camera playing a role, you don't have to explain to another actor what you want them to do. Once I'm deeply involved in the film and the character, and I know the script very well because I wrote it, as in The Delights of the Garden, everything feels very spontaneous. Other times, when I've acted for other directors, I have to prepare more and pay closer attention. Here, it was a more unified process; everything developed almost at the same time.”

–When you and your son Pablo Colomo started writing the screenplay, was it clear from the beginning that you would both act in the film? “Yes, I wrote my role for myself, but my son Pablo was the fifth choice [laughs]. We considered the idea early on, but then we dropped it. However, due to scheduling conflicts, several actors couldn't do it, and in the end, I told him: you do it. Since he knew the character, having written it himself, we decided he should play it too.”

–How did that collaborative writing process work? “I've almost always written screenplays with others. But when you work with someone you trust so much, someone as close as your own son, I think it's more complicated. It's different when you work with a screenwriter you only see occasionally. On the other hand, we were also able to discuss every suggestion, every idea we had for the script, in more detail. Writing a screenplay is a long and tough job, even though sometimes, when you finally see the result on screen, it might seem like a lot was improvised.”

“For 'The Delights of the Garden', we knew I'd act from the start, but my son Pablo was the fifth option.”

–This year, the Tenerife Spanish Film Showcase was linked to the University of La Laguna's 'For Freedom, Spain after 1975' program. That's when you started making films. What was filmmaking like back then? “I started filming in 1977. Paper Tigers is my first film. I was lucky that I didn't have to deal with censorship, which probably would have happened if the film had premiered a year earlier. Right after Franco's death, and while Spain was transitioning to democracy, some Francoist institutions were still operating. Paper Tigers must have been one of the first films that didn't go through censorship, and that was crucial. Mostly because censorship was very absurd. They would suddenly censor things like how people spoke… Any small detail was a reason for censorship.”

–Regarding the showcase's theme, another of your films, 'The Barbarian Years', based on Manuel Lamana's novel 'Other Men', was shown. Do you find it very different to film your own story compared to adapting someone else's text? “The Barbarian Years is inspired by Lamana's book. He was one of the two protagonists of the escape from the Valley of the Fallen labor camp, which is told in the film. The other was Nicolás Sánchez-Albornoz, who is credited as a collaborator on the screenplay. It's not a direct adaptation of Manuel Lamana's book, as the escape only takes up one chapter of his work. However, we wanted Manuel to be very present in the film, whose screenplay I wrote with Carlos López and José Ángel Esteban. In that sense, it wasn't very different from when I film my own story. It was different, though, because it's a period film inspired by real events.”

“My first film premiered in 1977; if it had been a year earlier, it would have faced that absurd thing called censorship.”

–Besides directing, you've also had a career as a producer. What makes you decide to produce a new film project? “I've produced most of the films I've directed. Some are co-productions, and a minority are made by other producers. Also, shortly after starting my career, I realized how rewarding it was to help other people. So I got involved, especially in first films by new filmmakers. Some were directed by women at a time when there wasn't specific support for them. What always motivates me as a producer is helping someone achieve their dream of making a film. That, for me, is what being a producer is all about.”

–Is it harder or easier to make a film in Spain today compared to when you started your career? “For me, it's harder because I no longer have 'points.' I can't benefit from incentives for new directors or women. And as a producer, it's pretty much the same, because a production company's past achievements aren't recognized. Only the financial stability shown in its latest projects matters. So everything is more complicated.”