| Fina Torres | |
| Birth Date: | 9 October 1951 |
| Nationality: | Venezuelan |
| Occupation: | Film director, screenwriter |
| Notable Works: | Oriana, Woman on Top |
Fina Torres (born Josefina Torres Benedetti; October 9, 1951) is a Venezuelan film director and screenwriter. She became internationally recognized after winning the la Caméra d'Or award at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival with her directorial debut film, Oriana.[1]
She may be best known for Oriana, Celestial Clockwork and Fox Searchlight Woman on Top with Penelope Cruz. She lives in Venezuela.[2]
Fina Torres was born in Caracas. She studied design, photography, and journalism. At the age of 17, she became a photojournalist.[3] She enrolled at the Neumann institute for Design in 1970 as a graphics design student and also took social communication at Andrés Bello Catholic University.
In 1974, she moved to Paris where she earned a bachelor's degree in cinematography, direction and editing from the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques. She spent the next 28 years of her life in the film industry. After Paris, she lived in the United States, Mexico, Singapore, and eventually returned to Venezuela.
During her time in France, Torres worked as a photographer, camera operator, editor, and film script supervisor. In 1983, she co-wrote a script with Antoine Lacomblez, for which she secured production funds from both Venezuela's state funding agency, FONCINE (Fondo de Fomento Cinematográfico de Venezuela) and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of France. The result was Torres' first film, Oriana, for which she won the Caméra d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival. It was described by critic Vincent Camby in The New York Times as a "gothic romance".[4]
In 1996, Torres' second film Celestial Clockwork, was released during the Toronto International Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival. Roger Ebert's review, August 16, 1996: "Celestial Clockwork is a riotous carnival of music, colors, witchery, sexuality and magic. If Almodóvar had made this movie, it would have been hailed as his best work in years."
In 2000, Torres directed Woman on Top (Fox Searchlight production) with Penélope Cruz. The film made the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival in 1996. Variety critic Lisa Nesselson July 26, 2000 wrote "A fantastical romp with a buoyant pace, exotic locations, a finger-popping score, appealing leads and spicy cooking demonstrations." "A contempo fairy tale about thwarted romance, the pic never falters in its adherence to its own bubbly, consistently inventive rhythm."
In 2010, Torres won the best feature film prize at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival with her film Habana Eva.[5] The film also won the Best Venezuelan Film prize at the Margarita Film Festival in Venezuela.
In 2011, she co-wrote the romantic comedy From Prada to Nada, based on Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. In 2014, she directed Liz in September, an adaptation of the American play Last Summer at Bluefish Cove.[6]
She is a member of the Writers Guild of America and the Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques (SACD) of France.
In 1995 Torres was identified as part of a new movement in Latin American cinema focusing less on films with political themes as had been the norm, and more on universal themes like relationships and conflicts between traditional culture and modernity.[7] Torres' films in particular, focus on strong female characters who defy patriarchal norms.
In an interview with GLAAD in 2015, she expressed a desire to help young gay and lesbian people through her film Liz in September. The film was an adaptation of Last Summer at Bluefish Cove, a play known as part of the first wave of American gay theater and centers on LGBT themes. The film has a focus on lesbian characters and issues and stars Venezuelan actress and model Patricia Velásquez, who identifies as lesbian.[8]