PEDRO ALMODOVAR

Pedro Almodovar (Spain, b. 1951) single-handedly represents the revival ofSpanish cinema as part of the cultural flowering of the Movida Madrilena inthe 1980s. New York was first to hail the unbridled imagination of thisprovocative director, whose films are filled with transsexuals, neurotics("Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown", 1988) and even drug-addictednuns ("The Law of Desire", 1987). In his maturity, Almodovar has continuedto draw inspiration from his underprivileged childhood in a remote cornerof La Mancha, making melodramas bursting with heightened passions expressedby unforgettable actors such as enelope Cruz ("All About My Mother", 1999;and "Broken Embraces", 2009) and Gael Garcia Bernal ("Bad Education",2004).