Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky is a Chilean and French avant-garde filmmaker and writer. Known for his films El Topo (1970), The Holy Mountain (1973) and Santa Sangre (1989), Jodorowsky has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his work which "is filled with violently surreal images and a hybrid blend of mysticism and religious provocation".
real name: Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky
genres: science fiction
awards: Yellow Kid Award, Officer of Arts and Letters, Pablo Neruda Order of Artistic and Cultural Merit, Leopard of Honour, Time Machine Award, Adamson Awards
member of: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
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Alejandro Jodorowsky was born on 17 February 1929, in Tocopilla, Chile to immigrant Ukrainian Jewish parents Jaime Jodorowsky Groismann and Sara Felicidad Prullansky Arcavi from Yekaterinoslav and Elisavetgrad in the Russian Empire. According to Jodorowsky's account, he was conceived as a result of spousal rape, as his father was often abusive. His mother subsequently disliked Jodorowsky, and detested his father. Alejandro also had an elder sister, Raquel Jodorowsky, but believed she was selfish and trying to "expel me from the family so that she could be the centre of attention." Alongside his dislike for his family, he also held contempt for many of the local people who he says disliked the family's immigrant status. Jodorowsky did not...
Jodorowsky moved to France as he felt there was little for him left in Chile. He settled in Paris and started to study philosophy at the Sorbonne. He also started to study mime with French actor Étienne Decroux and joined the troupe of one of Decroux's students, Marcel Marceau. It was with Marceau's troupe that he went on a world tour, and wrote several routines for the group, including "The Cage" and "The Mask Maker". After this, he returned to theatre directing, working on the music hall comeback of Maurice Chevalier in Paris.
In 1957, while Jodorowsky was in Paris studying mime, he created Les têtes interverties (The Severed Heads), a 20-minute adaptation of Thomas Mann's novella. It consisted almost entirely of mime and told the surreal story of a head-swapping merchant who helps a young man find courtship success. Jodorowsky played the lead role. The director Jean Cocteau admired the film and wrote an introduction for it. It was considered lost until a print of the film was discovered in 2006.
He has cited the filmmaker Federico Fellini as his primary cinematic influence; other artistic influences included Jean-Luc Godard, Sergio Leone, Erich von Stroheim, Buster Keaton, George Gurdjieff, Antonin Artaud, and Luis Buñuel. He has been described as an influence on such figures as Marilyn Manson, Darren Aronofsky, Taika Waititi, Guillermo del Toro, Nicolas Winding Refn, Peter Chung, Takashi Okazaki, Jan Kounen, Dennis Hopper, Eric Andre, the musical duo Suicide, and Kanye West.
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