Canica Films Signs Director Imanol Ruiz de Lara

Canica Films welcomes one of Spain’s top advertising directors to its team — Imanol Ruiz de Lara. The filmmaker was born in Madrid and raised among a family of actors. Perhaps that’s where his obsession with images and stories comes from. After studying Communication Studies at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, he continued his education in the Escuela Internacional de San Antonio de los Baños, the famous Cuban film school founded by Nobel prize winner, Gabriel García Marquez. He also studied editing at the Instituto de Cine de Madrid.

His professional career began in television. He spent seven years working at Globomedia before moving onto the ever-growing world of fashion films. His projects 'The Covered Human' and 'The City of Delights' were featured at important festivals such as the Madrid Fashion Film Fest, South Africa Fashion Film Festival and the Buenos Aires Fashion Film Festival. This led to collaborations with international brands such as Louis Vuitton, Yves Saint-Laurent and Vogue.

Imanol's work combines the aesthetics of fashion photography with the unique worldview of independent filmmaking. The Spaniard happily borrows from artists such as Bela Tarr, Wong Kar Wai, Jarmusch, Wes Anderson, Roy Andersson and Urich Seidl. This amalgamation of styles caught the eye of the advertising world, where Imanol debuted with the Collisions campaign for Heart Ibiza. This spot was featured in the Cannes Short List. His spots for Multiópticas, Beefeater, Bankia, Festival Utopía and Madrid Fusión continue combining pop aesthetics with an art house vision, creating a unique style that isn’t afraid to use intelligent humour and irony.

A cheese aficionado with a never-ending wanderlust, Imanol is a talent worth keeping an eye on and he will be a great addition to the ever-growing Canica Films production team.