Carlos Atanes (born November 8, 1971) is a Spanish film director, writer and playwright. He was born in Barcelona, and is a member of The Film-Makers' Cooperative, founded by Jonas Mekas, Shirley Clarke, Ken Jacobs, Andy Warhol, Jack Smith and others. His first finished feature-length movie was FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions, which he released in 2004. The movie won the Best Feature Film Award at the Athens Panorama of Independent Filmmakers in 2005 and was also nominated for the Méliès d'Argent at Fantasporto that same year.
On March 31, 2026, The Film-Makers' Cooperative held the first public screening in New York of Báthory, his experimental film about Countess Elizabeth Báthory.
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Reception
Critics often express the difficulty of valuing Atanes' cinematography and sometimes they even refrain from scoring it, since these are unusual films that escape the standard classification. Dave J. Wilson from Cinematic Shocks says regarding Maximum Shame “it exists outside of the cinematic norm not following its conventions (…) it is purely visual art rather than a real narrative a dreamlike mind-fuck of philosophical musings. It is not a question of whether it is good or not as it does not conform to cinematic conventions. Therefore, I will not be giving a rating for this review, as it is hard for me to judge it on such terms. Whether you like the film or not you will ultimately more likely all reach the same conclusion that it is at least a unique work.” Film Threat, meanwhile, says that within Gallino, the Chicken System “is an entire universe of creativity, albeit one that may or may not reflect this plane of reality as we know it. I don't know that the traditional sense of how we react to film applies here. It's more of an art experience than a simple film (…) I don't know that it's for everyone (or anyone), but it's certainly unique.”
As a writer
In addition to his work as a screenwriter and playwright, Carlos Atanes has published several books and essays on cultural issues, cinema and Chaos magic.
Filmography as director
La ira (1989)
Le Descente à l’enfer d’un poète (1990)
Romanzio in el sècolo ventuno (1991)
Els Peixos argentats a la peixera (1991)
Morir de calor (1991)
The Marvellous World of the Cucu Bird (1991)
Els Peixos Argentats a la Peixera (1991, co-directed with Hermann Bonnin)
El Parc (1992, co-directed with Hermann Bonnin)
The Mental Tenor (1993)
The Metamorphosis of Franz Kafka (1993)
Metaminds & Metabodies (1995)
Morfing (1996)
Borneo (1997)
The Seven Hills of Rome (1998)
Welcome to Spain (1999)
Cyberspace Under Control (2000)
Perdurabo (Where is Aleister Crowley?) (2003)
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions (2004)
Proxima (2007)
Made in Proxima (2007)
Codex Atanicus (2007)
Scream Queen (2008)
Released plays
2021 – Rey de Marte (Dramatic reading, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria)
2021 – Báthory (Dramatic reading, Madrid)
2019 – Antimateria (Tenerife)
2018 – Amaya Galeote's La incapacidad de exprimirte (Madrid)
2018 – La línea del horizonte (Madrid)
2015 – Un genio olvidado (Un rato en la vida de Charles Howard Hinton) (Madrid)
2014 – La quinta estación del puto Vivaldi (Madrid)
2014 – Los ciclos atánicos (Madrid)
2013 – El triunfo de la mediocridad (Madrid)
2013 – Secretitos (Madrid)
2011 – El hombre de la pistola de nata (Madrid)
2011 – La cobra en la cesta de mimbre (Madrid)
Brief plays
2019 – ¿Hasta cuándo estáis? (Madrid)
2019 – A Praga y vámonos (Madrid)
2018 – Chéjov bajo cero (Málaga)
2017 – Sexo y tortilla (Madrid)
2017 – Pasión mostrenca (Madrid)
2016 – La abuela de Frankenstein (Madrid)
2016 – Love is in the Box (Madrid)
2015 – Caminando por el valle inquietante (Madrid)
2015 – Santos varones (Madrid)
2015 – Porno emocional (Madrid)
2014 – El grifo de 5.000.000 euros (Madrid)
2014 – El vello público (Madrid)
2013 – Necrofilia fina (Madrid)
2013 – Romance bizarro (Madrid)
2012 – La lluvia (Madrid)
2012 – La depredadora (Leganés)