CHEMA SARMIENTO is a Spanish director born in Leon, Spain. Before moving to France to study in Paris, he got a degree in Philosophy at the ‘Angelicum’ Institute, Santander and a master’s degree in History at the University of Valladolid, Spain.
He graduated at the Institut Des Hautes Etudes Cinématographiques, Paris (IDHEC) in 1977 and specialized in Directing and Editing.
His first short movie ‘Los montes’ (The mounts) received various awards:
- Grand Prix, Bilbao Film Festival, Spain, 1981
- Prix du Jury, Belfort Film Festival, France, 1981
- Grand Prix, Tours Film Festival, France, 1982
- Prix de la Critique, Lille Film Festival, France, 1982
- Prix du Public, Lille Film Festival, France, 1982
- Prix Antenne, Lille Film Festival, France, 1982
- Prix à la meilleure première œuvre, Lille Film Festival, France, 1982
- Grand Prix, Catllar Film Festival, 1982
‘Los montes’ was selected among out of competitions films at Cannes International Film Festival and was also nominated for best documentary, at CESAR awards in 1983.
His first feature-film ‘El filandon’ (A winter evening), directed in 1985, competed in many festivals (San Sebastian, Valladolid where it was the opening film, etc) and was awarded the Prix du Jury and the Prix du Public at Belfort Film Festival, France, 1986. It was released in commercial theatres in October 1987.
His documentary ‘Dédicacé au vent’ (Dedicated to the wind’) on a remote Celtic part of Spain won an award at the Ethnographic Film Festival, Huesca, Spain, 1989.
He directed several TV documentaries for France Télévisions and Arte:
- ‘Séville, parfum de nards et de narcisses’ (Sevilla, a smell of narcissus and nards), 1992
- ‘Sierra de Ancares’, 1994
- ‘Wolfram, la montage noire’ (Wolfram, the black mountain), 1996
- ‘La Dame Blanche des Pyrénées’ (The White Lady of the Pyrenees), 1998
- ‘Les Cathares’ (the Cathars), 2001
- ‘Mohammed, the life of the Prophet’, a series of 5 theme evenings (52’ each), that ranked among ARTE top 20 hits of year 2002 (all categories).
- ‘Apocalypse et fin du monde’ (Apocalypse and worlds end), 2006
VIENE UNA CHICA is his second feature-film and the first movie to be produced by IMPROMPTU, his own production company based in Leon (Spain).
Chema SARMIENTO teaches Directing, Editing and Screenplay writing at the Fondation Européenne pour les Métiers de l’Image et du Son (FEMIS), Paris. He lives in France and in Spain.