Pedro Almodóvar

Known for: All About My Mother (1999), Talk to Her (2002)

Pedro Almodóvar began making films in post-Franco Spain with an anarchic energy that channeled the cultural liberation of the Movida madrileña into melodrama, comedy, and Sirkian excess. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) established him internationally; All About My Mother (1999) and Talk to Her (2002) each won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Screenplay respectively. He has remained the dominant figure in Spanish cinema for four decades.