Semprun, Jorge

(Jorge Maura Semprun / De­cember 10, 1923, Madrid, Spain-)

   The grandson of former Spanish Prime Minister Antonio Maura (1853-1925), he left Spain in the wake of civil war in 1936. His family took refuge in France, where he notably studied at the Sorbonne. In the early 1940s, he joined the communist resistance group Francs-Tireurs et Partisans. Arrested by the Gestapo in 1943, he was deported to the Buchenwald concen­tration camp. After the end of World War II, he re­sumed his political activities but progressively became critical of communism. A novelist since 1963 (Le Grand Voyage, Gallimard), he made his film debut writing the screenplay and dialogue of Alain Resnais's La Guerre est finie / Krigel or slut / USA: The War Is Over (also narrator, France / Sweden, 1966). From 1988 to 1991, he was culture minister of Spain. Other credits: 1966 Objectif: 500 Millions / Obiettivo 500 milioni / USA: Objective 500 Million (as co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, Pierre Schoendoerffer, France / Italy); 1968 Je t'aime, je t'aime (Alain Resnais); 1969 Z (as co-screenwriter, co-adapter, dialogist, Costa-Gavras, France / Algeria); 1970 L'Aveu / La confessione / UK and USA: The Confes­sion (as screenwriter, adapter, dialogist, Costa-Gavras, France / Italy); 1972 L'Attentat / Uattentato / Das At­tentat / UK: Plot / USA: The Assassination / The French Conspiracy (as co-screenwriter, Costa-Gavras, France / Italy); 1974 Stavisky . . . / Stavisky, il grande truffatore (as screenwriter, dialogist, Alain Resnais, France / Italy); 1975 Section spéciale / L'affare della sezione speciale / Sondertribunal—Jeder kampft fur sich allein / UK and USA: Special Section (as co-screenwriter, co-adapter, dialogist, Costa-Gavras, France / Italy / West Germany); 1976 Une Femme à sa Fenêtre / Una donna alla finestra / Die Frau am Fenster (Pierre Granier-Deferre, France / Italy / West Germany); 1977 Le Fond de l'Air est rouge / USA: Grin Without a Cat (documentary, as narrator, Chris Marker); 1978 Les Routes du Sud / Las rutas del sur / USA: Roads to the South (as co-screenwriter, co-dialogist, Joseph Losey, France / Spain); 1983 Los desastres della guerra (6 X 60' TV series, as co-screenwriter, Mario Camus, Spain); 1986 Les Trottoirs de Saturne / Los veredas de Saturno (as co-screenwriter, Hugo Santiago, France / Argentina); 1988 Médecins des Hommes (episode "El Salvador, le Pays des Quatorze Volcans", Forestano Vancini); 1991 Netchaiev est de Retour (as author of original novel only, Jacques Deray, France / Italy); 1995 L'Affaire Dreyfus / Die Affare Drey­fus / Die Dreyfus-Affare (as co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, Yves Boisset, France / Germany); 1997 K (as co-screenwriter, co-adapter, Alexandre Arcady); 1999 Che: Muerte de la utopia? (documentary, actor as himself, Fernando Birri, Argentina).

 Filmography

1974 ◘ Les Deux Mémoires (documentary; also screenwriter)