Miró, Pilar (1940–1997)

Innovative Spanish film director. Name variations: Pilar Miro; Pilar Miro Romero. Born in 1940 in Madrid, Spain; died of a heart attack on October 19, 1997, in Madrid.

Selected filmography:

La Petición (The Demand, 1976); El Crimen de Cuenca (The Cuenca Crime, 1979); Gary Cooper que estas en los Cielos (Gary Cooper Who Art in Heaven, 1980); Hablamos esta Noche (Let's Talk Tonight, 1982); Werther (1986).

After studying screenwriting at Spain's Official School of Cinematography, in 1963 Pilar Miró became that country's first woman television director. She was then 23. Her first feature film, La Petición (The Demand), released in 1976, caused controversy due to its feminist themes. Three years later, her international reputation was assured with El Crimen de Cuenca (The Cuenca Crime), which depicted in detail the repressive measures of Spain's Guardia Civil. The film was banned there, and Miró was brought to military trial. Gary Cooper que estas en los Cielos (Gary Cooper Who Art in Heaven), an autobiographical film with a feminist slant, was released in 1980, followed by Hablamos esta Noche (Let's Talk Tonight) in 1982. Miró was the Director General of Cinematography in the Spanish Ministry of Culture from 1982 until 1986, which was also the year she released her final feature film, Werther. She then headed the state television until her resignation in 1989, which has been variously attributed either to charges of misappropriation of funds or as a protest against the industry's discrimination of women. Shortly before her death from a heart attack in Madrid on October 19, 1997, she directed the televised wedding of Princess Cristina (b. 1965), daughter of King Juan Carlos and Sophia of Greece .

sources:

Katz, Ephraim. The Film Encyclopedia. NY: Harper-Collins, 1994.

"Pilar Miró" (obituary), in Classic Images. No. 270. December 1997, p. 55.

Jacquie Maurice , Calgary, Alberta, Canada