Biography

Medem was born on 21 October 1958 in San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain and showed an interest in movies since childhood, when he would take his father's Super 8 camera and shoot at night, while nobody was paying attention. After college graduation (where he earned degrees in Medicine and General Surgery) he worked as a film critic and later as a screenwriter, assistant director and editor. After a few shorts he directed his first full length feature, Vacas ('Cows') for which he won a Goya Award.

After this film he directed The Red Squirrel and Earth, both receiving good reviews at Cannes. In his next movie, Lovers of the Arctic Circle, which has been compared to the works of Krzysztof Kieślowski, he explored circular narrative and a taste for minimalistic textures that he then overcame in his next film, Sex and Lucia, where the plot dissolves into a very lyrical eroticism. After this film he took a tangent from his style to direct and produce La pelota vasca ('The Basque Ball'), a documentary film about the political problems of the Basque Country, which caused a furor amongst victims of terrorism. Following this, his film Caótica Ana debuted in 2007.

Filmography as director

Feature films

Narrative films

• Vacas (Cows, 1991)
• The Red Squirrel (1993)
• Earth (1996)
• Lovers of the Arctic Circle (1998)
• Sex and Lucia (2001)
• Caótica Ana (Chaotic Ana, 2007)
• Room in Rome (2010)
• Ma Ma (2015)

Documentary film

• La pelota vasca: La piel contra la piedra (The Basque Ball: Skin Against Stone, 2003)

Short and medium-length films

Super 8

• El ciego (The Blind, 1974)
• El jueves pasado (Last Thursday, 1977)
• Fideos (Noodles, 1979)
• Si yo fuera poeta... (If I Were a Poet, 1981)
• Teatro en Soria (Theatre in Soria, 1982)

35 mm

• Patas en la cabeza (Nutty As a Fruitcake, 1985)
• Las seis en punta (Six on the Dot, 1987)
• Martín (commissioned by TVE for their Siete huellas, siete series of short films, 1988)
• El Diario Vasco (The Basque Daily, 1989)

DV

• Asi se hizo "Airbag" (making of Juanma Bajo Ulloa's film Airbag, 1997)
• Clecla (commissioned by notodofilmfest.com, 2001)
• La pelota vasca (segment of ¡Hay motivo!, 2003)
• En las ramas de Ana (In Ana's Branches, commissioned by es:Fotogramas and Nokia for their N_ature movies series of short films, 2007)
• Concha (Mussel, video installation commissioned by Acciona and shown at Expo 2008, 2008)

Music video

• "Océano de sol" for Antonio Vega (1994)

Commercials

• Runner for Audi's Attitudes campaign (agency: El Sindicato, 1999/2000)
• Soplo/Tendedero (Waft/Clothesline) and Mediterraneo (Mediterranean) for Balay (agency: FCB Tapsa, 2002)
• Vecina (Neighbour) and Brazalete (Bracelet) for Heineken (agency: Dayax, 2003)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]