Alejandro Jodorowsky
Prullansky (Spanish: [xoðo'?ofski]; born 17 February
1929) is a Chilean and French avant-garde filmmaker. Best
known for his films El Topo (1970), The Holy
Mountain (1973) and Santa Sangre (1989), Jodorowsky
has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his
work which "is filled with violently surreal images and a
hybrid blend of mysticism and religious
provocation".[1]
Born to Jewish-Ukrainian parents in Chile, Jodorowsky
experienced an unhappy and alienated childhood, and so immersed
himself in reading and writing poetry. Dropping out of college, he
became involved in theater and in particular mime, working as
a clown before founding his own theater troupe, the Teatro
Mimico, in 1947. Moving to Paris in the early 1950s, Jodorowsky
studied traditional mime under Étienne Decroux, and put his
miming skills to use in the silent film Les têtes
interverties (1957), directed with Saul Gilbert and Ruth
Michelly. From 1960 onwards he divided his time between Mexico City
and Paris, where he co-founded Panic Movement, a
surrealist performance art collective that staged violent
and shocking theatrical events. In 1966 he created his first comic
strip, Anibal 5, and in 1967 he directed his first feature
film, the surrealist Fando y Lis, which caused a huge scandal
in Mexico, eventually being banned.
His next film, the acid western El Topo (1970),
became a hit on the midnight movie circuit in the United
States, considered the first-ever midnight cult film, and garnered
high praise from John Lennon, who convinced
former Beatles manager Allen Klein to provide
Jodorowsky with $1 million to finance his next film. The
result was The Holy Mountain (1973), a surrealist
exploration of western esotericism. Disagreements with Klein,
however, led to both The Holy Mountain and El
Topo failing to gain widespread distribution, although both
became classics on the underground film
circuit.[1] After a cancelled attempt at
filming Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Dune,
Jodorowsky produced five more films: the family
film Tusk (1980); the surrealist horror Santa
Sangre (1989); the failed blockbuster The Rainbow
Thief (1990); and the first two films in a planned five-film
autobiographical series The Dance of Reality (2013)
and Endless Poetry (2016).
Jodorowsky is also a comic book writer, most notably penning
the science fiction series The Incal throughout the
1980s, which has been described as having a claim to be "the best
comic book" ever written.[2] Other comic books he has written
include The Technopriests and Metabarons. Jodorowsky
has also extensively written and lectured about his own spiritual
system, which he calls "psychomagic" and "psychoshamanism", which
borrows from alchemy, the tarot, Zen
Buddhism and shamanism.[3] His son Cristóbal has
followed his teachings on psychoshamanism; this work is captured in
the feature documentary Quantum Men, directed by Carlos
Serrano Azcona.[4]
Born November 26th, 1943 in Mendoza, Argentina.
Gimenez finished his high school education as an industrial design
major and advanced his artistic education by attending the Academy
of Fine Arts in Barcelona, Spain, where he studied drawing. For the
next few years, he dedicated himself to the drawing of comic books,
both back in his native Argentina with such publishers as Colomba
and Record, as well as in Spain, contributing to magazines such as
Zona 84, and Comix International. By this point, Gimenez had made
quite a name for himself for his extremely detailed renditions of
machinery, chiefly in the war and science fiction genres. His art
further propelled him to international collaborations, and it was
in 1979 that he was first published in France with a series of
titles including “Leo Roa," which he also wrote. The following
year, he participated, as a creative designer, on a segment of the
film “Heavy Metal." For the next decade, he continued his work in
comic book magazines, notably the French comics anthology Metal
Hurlant and the Italian L'Eternauta.
The 1990s saw him strengthening his fan base as he was repetitively
voted best artist by European audiences, a recognition that was
mirrored in the festival and critical realms, with such awards as
the Gaudi award at the Feria Internacional del Comics de Barcelone,
in 1990. In 1992, he meets Alejandro Jodorowsky for the first time,
and the two began work on “The Metabarons," a sci-fi saga of epic
proportions in both art and story. It is to this day regarded as
one of the true graphic novel classic of the genre and it continues
successful sales around the world.
Gimenez currently maintains a consistent yet varied workload,
lending his talents as illustrator to covers for CD albums and
novels, as well as serving as a concept artist on video games, and
motion pictures. He also remains in high demand as a graphic novel
artist, collaborating with some of Europe's most acclaimed authors
such as Carlos Trillo, Emilio Balcarce, and Roberto Dal Prà, when
he is not writing his own stories as he successfully continues to
do, as with “The Fourth Power" collection.
On April 2nd, 2020, he passed away in his home province of Mendoza,
Argentina, from COVID-19 complications.
Web sites:+ http://www.juangimenez.com/
"What keeps me going back to “The Metabarons” is the immense volume and speed of its innovation. There is literally a new and mad idea on every page." - Warren Ellis, writer of “Transmetropolitan,” “Plan "The Metabarons’ is a magnum opus of unadorned emotion and one that will surprise you in its thoughtfulness and craft." - All-Comic.com "'The Metabaron' cycle (...) is, to my mind, the greatest work of graphic fiction ever produced." - David S. Goyer "...if you want an epic, brutal space opera with some hilarity throwing there between shocking events then pick up this book." - The Frog Queen
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