The talk, entitled ‘The Cinema Inside Me’, took place in the form of conversation between Almodóvar and curator, writer and educator Maria Delgado. Following the talk, actor Miranda Richardson presented Almodóvar with his BAFTA for The Skin I Live In, which he had been unable to collect at the 2012 BAFTA Film Awards.

Watch highlights from his lecture below:

About Almodóvar

Spain’s most influential director since Luis Buñuel, Pedro Almodóvar has made a name for himself on the world stage with his penchant for bright colours, labyrinthine narratives and bold splashes of melodrama.

Born in 1949 in the quiet Spanish town of Calzada de Calatrava, Almodóvar moved to Madrid in 1967 to escape the poverty of his rural upbringing. With the country’s film schools closed under the Franco regime, Almodóvar became a self-taught filmmaker, exhibiting his first shorts in alternative underground clubs around the city.

In the late Seventies, the fall of the Franco regime brought about a wave of counter-culture and hedonism in a movement known as La Movida Madrileña. Almodóvar became a figurehead of the movement, creating films that came to characterise the era. His first feature, Pepi, Luci, Bom (1980), was very much a product of the time: a campy comedy of unbridled excess, sexual liberation and amped-up melodrama.

As writer and director of his films, Almodóvar has retained complete creative control over his work, carving out a niche that is very much his own. His later films, including All About My Mother (1999), Talk To Her (2002), Volver (2006) and The Skin I Live In (2011), revolve around the same grand themes of family, identity, desire and death, treated with an artful balance of comedy and drama. Laced with love, sex and obsession, his films are notable for their strong female leads and his long-term collaborations with actors such as Carmen Maura, Victoria Abril, Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas.

At the time of writing, Almodóvar is working on his latest release. The film, titled I’m So Excited, stars Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas and is currently in post-production.

With the great Spanish director delivering the 2012 David Lean Lecture, BAFTA looks back at his film career, his favourite collaborators and his eye for stunning, bold visuals.

See a photo gallery exploring Almodóvar’s film career and his eye for stunning, bold visuals below:

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