Julio Medem

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Medemand the second or maternal family name is Lafont.

Julio Medem
Medem in 2025
Born	Julio Medem Lafont (1958-10-21) 21 October 1958 (age 66) San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain
Alma mater	University of the Basque Country
Occupation(s)	Director, screenwriter, producer, editor
Years active	1974–present
Spouses	Lola Barrera ​ ​ (m. 1976,divorced)​ Montse Sanz
Children	3

Julio Medem Lafont (born 21 October 1958) is a Basque film director, producer, editor, and screenwriter. ^[1]

Biography

Medem was born on 21 October 1958 in San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain and showed an interest in movies since childhood, when he would take his father's Super 8 camera and shoot at night, while nobody was paying attention. After college graduation, with degrees in Medicine and General Surgery, he worked as a film critic and later as a screenwriter, assistant director and editor. After a few shorts, he directed his first full-length feature, Vacas (Cows) for which he won a Goya Award.

After this film he directed The Red Squirrel and Earth , both receiving good reviews at Cannes. His next film, Lovers of the Arctic Circle , has been compared to the works of Krzysztof Kieślowski ^{[ citation needed ]}. In 2002 was released his following film, Sex and Lucia . ^[2]

Medem explored the documentary format with his next production La pelota vasca ('The Basque Ball'), a film about the political problems of the Basque Country, which caused a furor amongst some victims of terrorism and far right politicians. Following this, his film Caótica Ana debuted in 2007.

Filmography

Feature films

Narrative films

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Editor	Notes	Ref.
1991	Cows	Yes	Yes	No	No
1993	The Red Squirrel	Yes	Yes	No	No
1996	Earth	Yes	Yes	No	No
1998	Lovers of the Arctic Circle	Yes	Yes	No	No
2001	Sex and Lucia	Yes	Yes	No	No
2007	Chaotic Ana	Yes	Yes	Executive	Yes
2010	Room in Rome	Yes	Yes	Executive	Yes
2015	Ma Ma	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2018	The Tree of Blood	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
2025	8	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		[3]
2026	Minotaur: Picasso and the Women of Guernica	Yes	Yes			In post-production	[4]

Documentary films

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Editor
2003	The Basque Ball: Skin Against Stone	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2006	Uno por ciento, esquizofrenia	No	Idea	Yes	Yes

Short films

Super 8

• El ciego (The Blind, 1974)
• El jueves pasado (Last Thursday, 1977)
• Fideos (Noodles, 1979)
• Si yo fuera poeta... (If I Were a Poet, 1981)
• Teatro en Soria (Theatre in Soria, 1982)

35 mm

• Patas en la cabeza (Nutty As a Fruitcake, 1985)
• Las seis en punta (Six on the Dot, 1987)
• Martín (commissioned by TVE for their Siete huellas, siete [Seven Tracks, Seven] series of short films, 1988)
• El Diario Vasco (The Basque Daily, 1989)

DV

• Asi se hizo "Airbag" (making of Juanma Bajo Ulloa's film Airbag, 1997)
• Clecla (commissioned by notodofilmfest.com, 2001)
• La pelota vasca (segment of ¡Hay motivo! [There Is Reason!], 2003)
• En las ramas de Ana (In Ana's Branches, commissioned by es:Fotogramas and Nokia for their N_ature movies series of short films, 2007)
• Concha (Mussel, video installation commissioned by Acciona and shown at Expo 2008, 2008)

Music video

• "Océano de sol" for Antonio Vega (1994)

Commercials

• Runner for Audi's Attitudes campaign (agency: El Sindicato, 1999/2000) ^[5]
• Soplo/Tendedero (Waft/Clothesline) and Mediterraneo (Mediterranean) for Balay (agency: FCB Tapsa, 2002)
• Vecina (Neighbour) and Brazalete (Bracelet) for Heineken (agency: Dayax, 2003)

TV series

• Jai Alai ( 2023) ^[6]

Books

• Aspasia Amante De Atenas (2013) ^[7]

Notes

1. Rivera, Alfonso (March 22, 2010). "Interview: Julio Medem". Cineuropa.org. Retrieved March 15, 2011.
2. Mitchell, Elvis (July 12, 2002). "FILM IN REVIEW; 'Sex and Lucía'". The New York Times .
3. Marroquín, Alberto (March 24, 2023). "De las aulas de la Universidad de Burgos a producir la última película de Julio Medem". El Correo de Burgos.
4. Martinez, Luis (March 16, 2025). "Julio Medem: "La única manera de acabar con el trauma de la Guerra Civil es celebrar juntos una ceremonia del perdón"". El Correo de Burgos.
5. Hunter, Sandy (June 1, 2006). "Manifesto Destiny". Boards. Archived from the original on February 17, 2012. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
6. "'Jai Alai', la anunciada serie de Julio Medem, toma impulso". El Correo (in Spanish). November 26, 2021. Retrieved April 8, 2022.
7. "Aspasia, Amante De Atenas de Medem, Julio 978-84-670-3476-9". www.todostuslibros.com (in Spanish). Retrieved April 8, 2022.

Further reading

• Stone, Rob: Julio Medem. Manchester 2007 (Spanish and Latin American Filmmakers)
• Evans, Jo: Julio Medem. London 2007 (Critical Guides to Spanish & Latin American Texts and Films; 71)
• Angulo, Jesús/Rebordinos, José Luis: Contra la certeza: El cine de Julio Medem. San Sebastián/Huesca 2005
• Ituarte Pérez, Leire: El imaginario posmoderno de la feminidad en la filmografía de Juanma Bajo Ulloa y Julio Medem. Bilbao 2007 (Tesis doctorales)
• Bochnig, Julia: ''Von der großen Sehnsucht zu fliehen": Die Filme von Julio Medem. Remscheid 2005 (Filmstudien; 37)
• Strigl, Sandra: Traumreisende: Eine narratologische Studie der Filme von Ingmar Bergman, André Téchiné und Julio Medem. Bielefeld 2007
• Rodriguez, Marie-Soledad (ed.): Le cinéma de Julio Medem. Paris 2008
• Falcioni, Davide: L'immagine eccessiva: Julio Medem e il suo universo magico. Bellocchi di Fano 2004 (Quaderni del Fano International Film Festival/Papermoon; 2)

External links

• Julio Medem at IMDb
• JulioMedem.org (in Spanish)