1. ALEJANDRO JODOROWSKY Contemporary Auteur

2. BACKGROUND  Born in Northern Chile to Russian-Jewish Immigrants.  Dropped out of college after attending 2 years.  Fascinated with forms of physical expression.  Worked as a circus clown, mime and stage actor.  At age 23 developed his own theatre company.  Moved to France to continue writing and directing.  Contributions are seen as Avant-Garde and Surreal.  Is still an active filmmaker at the age of 85.

3. QUOTES  Every person, every artist makes his life an artwork.  People say I am mad. I am not mad. I am trying to heal my soul.  Life is a mixing of all kind of things: comedy and tragedy going together.  I want to liberate my imagination and my mind with every kind of movie. That is what I wanted to do all my life.  I am like the rain: I go where I'm needed.  Every work of art belongs to his time. I would not paint again the Mona Lisa in the third dimension.  I am an artist, you understand? For me, a picture is like poetry. When you make art, this is not coming from an intellectual place. It's coming from the deep side of your unconscious, your soul.

4. FILMOGRAPHY YearTitleLanguageAwards 1957La Cravate 1968Fando y LisSpanish 1970El TopoSpanish 1973The Holy MountainEnglish 1978TuskEnglish / French 1989Santa SangreEnglish / Spanish 1990The Rainbow ThiefEnglish 2013The Dance of RealitySpanish TBA Abel CainAbel Cain or The Sons of El TopoThe Sons of El Topo

5. LA CRAVATE (1957)  Film short with a runtime of only 20 minutes.  Jodorowsky’s first attempt at filmmaking.  Adapted from the Thomas Mann 1940 novella The Transposed Heads.  Stars surreal surreal humorist Raymond Devos and Alejandro Jodorowsky himself.  Plot: A poet and a boxer each stop by a little shop on a busy French street. There, a petite woman allows patrons to switch their heads. Both men do, and later regret the decision.  Click photo for more ------------------>>>>>>>>

6. FANDO AND LIS (1968)  Film adaptation of a Fernando Arrabal play by the same name.  Alejandro Jodorowsky's first feature length film.  When the film premièred at the 1968 Acapulco film festival, a full scale riot broke out.  The film was later banned in Mexico.  Plot: Fando and his partially paralyzed lover Lis search for the mythical city of Tar  Click photo for more ------------------>>>>>>>>

7. EL TOPO (1970)  Definitive Cult Spaghetti Western.  Selected as the Mexican entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 44th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.  Distributed across the United States with the assistance of Allen Klein, manager of The Beatles.  Plot: the film takes place in two parts. The first half resembles a western; albeit a surreal one. The second is a love story of redemption and rebirth.  Click photo for more ------------------>>>>>>>>

8. THE HOLY MOUNTAIN (1973)  Jodorowsky as an actor, composer, set designer and costume designer on the film.  Produced by Beatles manager Allen Klein.  Shown at various international film festivals in 1973, including Cannes.  Plot: An omniscient view of what social engineering caused by greed has done to the modern world, but shows us how to live and not give in to a material world.  Click photo for more ------------------>>>>>>>>

9. TUSK (1980)  French drama directed by Jodorowsky and written by Nicholas Niciphor.  Exhibited little of the director's outlandish visual style and was never given wide release.  A follow-up of Jodorowsky's attempt of Dune.  Plot: An English girl and an Indian elephant, born on the same day, share a common destiny.  Click photo for more ------------->>>>>>>>

10. JODOROWSKY'S DUNE  Jodorowsky took over the film rights to create the film Dune in 1975.  Pink Floyd, among others, chosen for some of the soundtrack.  H.R.Giger, among others, chosen for set and character design.  Salvador Dali and Orsen Wells, among others, chosen for the cast.  Ultimately, financial woes stalled the project in its preproduction phase.  Film rights lapsed in 1982, when Dino De Laurentiis purchased them and released the1984 film Dune, directed by David Lynch.  A documentary concerning Jodorowsky's effort at Dune was released in 2013 and is pictured here.  Click photo for more ------------------>>>>>>>>

11. SANTA SANGRE (1989)  Mexican-Italian avant-garde Horror film directed by Jodorowsky as well as written by Jodorowsky along with Claudio Argento and Roberto Leoni.  Stars of the film include Jodorowsky's sons.  Films Tagline: Forget Everything You Have Ever Seen  Plot: A young man is confined in a mental hospital. Through a flashback we see that he was traumatized as a child.  Click photo for more ----------------->>>>>>>>

12. THE RAINBOW THIEF (1990)  Reunites Lawrence of Arabia co-stars Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif in a fable of friendship.  Jodorowsky's first British film.  Jodorowsky has since disowned the movie due to allegations that threats were made by producers as to his creative involvement.  Plot: A petty crook, in search of the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, hopes to cash in by befriending the heir to a huge fortune.  Click photo for more ------------------>>>>>>>>

13. THE DANCE OF REALITY (2013)  French autobiographical film written and directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky.  Reflects Jodorowsky's philosophy that reality is not objective but rather a "dance" created by our own imaginations.  Screened at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.  Jodorowsky's first film in 23 years.  Very positive reception. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 93% based on 44 reviews.  Click photo for more ------------------>>>>>>>>

14. SOURCES & LINKS TO VIDEO  Alejandro Jodorowsky on Wikipedia Alejandro Jodorowsky on Wikipedia  Alejandro Jodorowsky Filmography via Wikipedia Alejandro Jodorowsky Filmography via Wikipedia  Alejandro Jodorowsky Quotes Alejandro Jodorowsky Quotes  Alejandro Jodorowsky IMDb Alejandro Jodorowsky IMDb  Alejandro Jodorowsky News Alejandro Jodorowsky News  Article about Alejandro Jodorowsky Article about Alejandro Jodorowsky  Filmography, Facts and Opinions on Alejandro Jodorowsky Filmography, Facts and Opinions on Alejandro Jodorowsky  Jodorowsky's Dune Jodorowsky's Dune  Official Dance of Reality Movie Website Official Dance of Reality Movie Website  Upcoming/Current Endeavors of Alejandro Jodorowsky Upcoming/Current Endeavors of Alejandro Jodorowsky