Juan Gonzalez

Bio

Born in Huelva in 1973 but raised in Seville, after finishing high school he took a gap year in London before moving to Madrid in 1994 to study cinematography at T.A.I. School of the Arts. Graduated in 1997, he has been working in the cinema industry since then, credited as part of the camera crew in more than 30 feature films. In 2012 he shot 12+1. Una Comedia Metafísica, his first feature as DP, for which he got an ASECAN nomination for Best Cinematographer. After this came Carmina o Revienta and Carmina y Amen, both commercial successes and media phenomenons.

Anochece en la India, shot in locations around Andalucía, Turkey, Romania and India was his most recent feature film as DP. In the non-fiction sector, he has been working for Spanish TV channels like Canal Sur, Canal +, La Sexta and RTVE, as well as foreign channels like BBC (UK), ABC (Australia) and Discovery Channel (USA). Juan been shooting and traveling extensively around the world, including the United States, Nicaragua, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Morocco, Egypt, Thailand and most European countries.

Reflection

When I was a child Easter meant nothing to me but holidays, as my parents were both teachers and schools were shut down for those days. We would usually head out the city for the whole week so I don’t really remember watching any processions at this age. Later on, I moved to Madrid where there is a lack of tradition for this festivity. So in a way, Sacred gives me the chance to live the Easter tradition back in my hometown as I’ve never done before.

Following processions all thru “La Madrugá” (which actually means from midnight into the early afternoon) becomes an exhausting effort, but also an amazing experience to live. Bands of cornets and drums and the breathtaking “saetas” sung from the balconies to ancient religious images, young boys and girls going out all night for the first time in their lives, families who open their houses to us, sharing their food and drink and allowing us to join them while we shoot. All in an incredible and particular mix of faith, devotion and folklore that I will hardly forget.