Ventura Pons

One of Spain's most renowned Catalan movie makers, Ventura Pons has played multiple creative roles-director, screenwriter, producer-in the decades he's spent amassing his impressive canon since his debut was chosen to appear in the 1978 Cannes Film Festival. Pons spent a decade honing his craft in live theater before releasing his first film in 1978, "Ocana, retrat intermittent (Ocana, an Intermittent Portrait," a biopic he wrote and directed about Barcelonian transvestite Ocana. Using his theatrical experience as a springboard, Pons was soon racking up numerous award nominations and awards from a wide range of film festivals and organizations. Spain's Oscar equivalent, the Goya Awards, gave him four best screenplay nods through 2008 that included 2001's mid-life-crisis romantic drama "Anita no perd el tren (Anita Takes a Chance)" and 1995's "El Perque de tot Plegat (What It's All About)," a dramatic anthology based on a number of short stories by author Quim Monzo. Known for shooting his motion pictures with dialogue in Catalan, Pons has been recognized by the government of Catalonia, which awarded him the National Cinema Prize in 1995 and the Creu de Sant Jordi in 2007.