Bruno Lazaro

Bruno Lazaro is a Canadian-Spanish filmmaker who has written and directed fiction, documentary and experimental films including "City Of Dark" (1998) premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, screened at the Independent Film Project in New York, the Alternative Film Festival in Barcelona, and awarded "Most innovative film language" at Figueira Foz, Portugal. Born in Madrid, Spain, Bruno Lazaro emigrated to Canada at an early age when his family was exiled during the Spanish dictatorship. Graduating from the Centre for the Arts at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, he made several short films including "Hate To Love" (1982) awarded at the Chicago International Film Festival and invited to the Directors' Fortnight in Cannes. His first feature "The Traveller" (1989) premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Festival of New Cinema in Montreal and was included in several retrospectives of Canadian Cinema including at the Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris. "It's For You!" (2004), his first Canadian-Spanish co-production shot in Toronto and Barcelona, screened at numerous international festivals and was awarded at both the Cinema Biennale in Annecy and (ex-aequo) at the International Film Festival in Lyon, France. In 2011 Bruno Lazaro completed an experimental-fiction-documentary tribute to his father, (Spanish exiled poet, Jesús López Pacheco) "There Are No Outdoor Ice Rinks In Madrid" which screened at the DOXA Vancouver Documentary Film Festival and was awarded at the Ronda International Film Festival, Spain. He has taught filmmaking in Spain and Canada, been a jury member and guest film programmer at international film festivals as well as museums such as the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid. In 2012 the Gijón International Film Festival presented a retrospective of his feature films.