Producer, filmmaker, and screenwriter Carles Balagué dies at 76.

Barcelona-born producer, screenwriter, filmmaker, and lawyer Carles Balagué died yesterday in Barcelona at the age of 76, according to funeral sources on Thursday.

Born in Barcelona in 1949, Balagué directed nine feature films, including Adela (1987), the first film released in Spain starring a trans woman ; the documentary La Casita Blanca: La Ciutat Oculta (The White House: The Hidden City); Denver; and La Bomba del Liceo (The Bomb of the Liceu).

He was director of the College of Film Directors of Catalonia for four years and also held the presidency of PAC (Associated Producers of Catalonia). His penultimate work, "Arropiero, the Vagabond of Death," a documentary about the serial killer the Arropiero , won the Silver Plácido Award for Best Film Noir at the Manresa International Film Noir Festival (Barcelona) in 2008.

Although a lawyer, he was always in love with cinema , and that passion led him to support the film criticism magazine 'Directed by...' from its beginnings, or to promote in recent years the Méliès cinemas on Villarroel Street in Barcelona, which opened in 1996 and finally closed with the pandemic.

He was director of the College of Film Directors of Catalonia and held the presidency of (PAC) Associated Producers of Catalonia

As a film critic he was the author of several books such as ' The best films of film noir , 'François Truffaut', and 'Key Films of Musical Cinema,' which he co-wrote with Rafael Miret. The wake for Balagué opened this Thursday at the Les Corts Funeral Home, and the funeral will take place tomorrow, Friday, August 1, at the same location.

Barcelona-born producer, screenwriter, filmmaker, and lawyer Carles Balagué died yesterday in Barcelona at the age of 76, according to funeral sources on Thursday.