Eloy de la Iglesia (b. January 1, 1944, Zarautz – d. March 23, 2006, Madrid) was a Spanish screenwriter and film director.

De la Iglesia was an outspoken gay socialist filmmaker who is relatively unknown outside of Spain despite a prolific and successful career in his native country. Many of this films deal with the theme of homosexuality.

Life

Born in Zarauz ([[Guipúzcoa), he grew up in Madrid. His desire to follow a career in filmmaking was initially thwarted. He attended courses at the prestigious Parisian IDHEC, but he could not enter Spain’s national Film School because he was too young. Instead, he began to study philosophy and literature, but on his third curse he abandoned it to direct children’s theater. By age twenty he had already written and directed many works for television sharpening his narrative skills. He made his debut as film director when he was only twenty two years old with Fantasy 3 (1966), adapting three children’s stories. This film is composed of three episodes: "The Maid of the Sea" "The three hairs from the devil" and "The Wizard of Oz", freely inspired by the three narratives homonyms. While doing the mandatory military service, he wrote the script of his second film, Algo Amargo en la Boca/Something Bitter in the Mouth (1968). Algo Amargo en la boca and de la Iglesia’s next film, Cuadrilaero Quadrilateral (1969), faced problems with the Francoist censors and failed to attract an audience.

Filmography as director