José Val del Omar

Two aspects of Granada-born Jose Val del Omar –who dedicated himself to cinema since his late twenties to his death in 1982– turn him into a unique and complex figure: his search for a collective spiritual ecstasy beyond his artistic ego, and a faith in technique (being the cinema believer he was) as a vehicle for this utopia that is detached from the material world and supported on a poetic view of it. Responsible for crazy futuristic inventions –such as Tactilevision, Diaphony, and the Un-panoramic Overflowing of the Image–, Val del Omar was burning with visceral Spanish mysticism (“sanctification of African sensuality,” as it says in a Ganivet quote he noted), which turns his cinema into something that supernaturally stirs up anyone who watches it. His life was his work, as we can see in his films, writings, collages, photographs, experiments, and poems. And although his finished films are scarce –they always close with a shot that says “no end”– he is undoubtedly one of most essential visionary filmmakers in the planet. Only the future implied in the word “visionary” clashes with his background career –a lonely one in the arid Spain where he lived– and also with a history of cinema in which –although there were kindred souls and pieces– another Val del Omar has never existed, nor will exist.
ED

Films: Fiestas cristianas / Fiestas profanas Estampas 1932 Vibración de Granada Acariño galaico (De barro) Fuego en Castilla Aguaespejo granadino