Ángel Fernández-Santos

{{Short description|Spanish film critic and screenwriter}}

Ángel Fernández-Santos (1934–2004) was a Spanish film critic and screenwriter.

Born in Los Cerralbos, province of Toledo, in 1934, he was the younger brother of Marxist philosopher {{ill|Francisco Fernández-Santos|es}}.{{Cite web|date=15 August 2012|title=Retrato de Ángel Fernández Santos, viejo trotskista y paladín de Tierra y Libertad|first=Pepe|last=Gutiérrez|website=Anticapitalistas|url=https://www.anticapitalistas.org/spip.php?article27218}} He studied for a brief spell at the {{ill|Escuela Oficial de Cine|es}} in the early 1960s.{{Cite web|url=https://www.diariodesevilla.es/ocio/mirada-encendida_0_101390745.html|website=Diario de Sevilla|title=Una mirada encendida}} As a committed anti-Francoist,{{Cite web|url=https://elpais.com/diario/2004/07/07/agenda/1089151208_850215.html|website=El País|first=Juan|last=Cruz|date=7 July 2004|title=El hombre que hizo una creación de la crítica}} he was expelled from the Escuela Oficial de Cine because of his left-wing positions.

He went on to have an extensive career as a film critic, writing for Nuestro cine (1964–1971), Cinemanía, Diario 16, and El País, where he worked from 1982 until his death.{{Cite journal|url=https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/ESMP/article/view/54256/49614|location=Madrid|publisher=Ediciones Complutense|journal=Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodístico|issn=1134-1629|doi=10.5209/ESMP.54256|title=La conjugación de los esquemas conceptuales de la comedia en la crítica cinematográfica de Ángel Fernández-Santos|first=José Antonio|last=Planes Pedreño|doi-access=free}} He also co-penned the screenplays of The Spirit of the Beehive (reputed to be among the best Spanish films ever) and also screenplays of films directed by Escuela Oficial de Cine acquaintance Francisco Regueiro.

He died in Madrid on 6 July 2004.{{Cite web|url=https://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2004/07/06/obituarios/1089124375.html|website=El Mundo|title=Ángel Fernández Santos, crítico de cine y guionista}}

A compilation of his reviews edited by {{ill|Carlos F. Heredero|ca}} for Editorial Debate was published in 2007. An essay by José Antonio Planes Pedreño about the basics of Fernández-Santos' film criticism titled La crítica cinematográfica de Ángel Fernández-Santos was published by Shangrila Ediciones in 2017.{{Cite journal|url=https://ceclmdigital.uclm.es/viewer.vm?id=0002009158&page=1&search=&lang=es&view=global|journal=Libros y Nombres de Castilla-La Mancha|via=Biblioteca Virtual de Castilla-La Mancha|issue=288|year=2017|title=La crítica cinematográfica de Ángel Fernández Santos|page=6}} His daughter Elsa is a journalist specialised in culture, reporting about cinema as well.{{Cite web|url=https://www.laopinioncoruna.es/cultura/2009/08/10/grito-poetico-elsa-fernandez-santos-25300244.html|website=La Opinión A Coruña|date=10 August 2009|title=El grito poético de Elsa Fernández-Santos}}