Jean Vigo

Jean Vigo (April 26, 1905 – October 5, 1934) was a French film director who helped establish poetic realism in film in the 1930s; he was a posthumous influence on the French New Wave of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Biography

Vigo was born to Emily Clero and the prominent Catalan militant anarchist Eugeni Bonaventura de Vigo i Sallés (who adopted the name Miguel Almereyda - an anagram of "y'a la merde", which translates as "there's the shit"). Much of his early life was spent on the run with his parents. His father was murdered in the infirmary of Fresnes Prison on the night of 13 August 1917. The Gomes biography of Vigo says that a common criminal named Bernard, who had been put in charge of keeping watch over the sick prisoner that night, supposedly approached Almereyda's bed while he slept, and used shoelaces to garrotte his victim. "The autopsy showed that Almereyda was suffering from peritonitis and a ruptured appendix. There was over a litre of pus in his abdomen. His end had been near anyhow." Vague theories circulated that Almereyda was hushed up by order of extreme Socialist politicians, Malvy and Caillaux, men later punished for war-time treason. The young Vigo was subsequently sent to boarding school under an assumed name, Jean Sales, to conceal his identity.

Prix Jean Vigo

The Prix Jean Vigo is an award in the Cinema of France given annually since 1951 to a French film director in homage to Jean Vigo. It was founded by French writer Claude Aveline. Since 1960, the award is given to a director of a feature film and to a director of a short film.

The award is usually given to a young director, for his or her independent spirit and stylistic originality.

Winners

1950s

Feature film

1960s

Vigo

Vigo (/ˈviːɡoʊ/, Galician: [ˈbiɣo], locally: [ˈbiħo, -xo], Spanish: [ˈbiɣo]) is a city on the Atlantic Ocean in the province of Pontevedra, in Galicia, north-west Spain.

Vigo is the most populous municipality in Galicia, and the 14th in Spain.

Vigo is in the south-west of Galicia, in the southern part of Vigo Bay. In the north-east, it borders the municipality of Redondela, in the east Mos, in the south O Porriño and Gondomar, and in the south-west Nigrán. On the other side of the bay are the municipalities of Cangas and Moaña. They are all part of the southern Galician region called Rias Baixas. Vigo is located just north of the border with Portugal and its nearest larger city is Portugal's second largest city of Porto.

Vigo and its metropolitan area is one of the main economic agents of the region.

History

In the Middle Ages, the small village of Vigo was part of the territory of Galician speaking neighbouring towns, particularly Tui, and suffered several Viking attacks. However, the number of inhabitants was so small that, historically, Vigo was not considered to be a real village until around the 15th century, when the earliest records began.

Vigo (disambiguation)

Vigo can refer to:

Places

People

Vigo is an Italian surname, probably derived from the Latin word vicus (neighbourhood or settlement). An alternative spelling found as a forename is Viggo. But also can be a Spanish last name. The City of Vigo in Galicia, Spain, has close to 500,000 population and it can be where the surname comes from.

Vigo (comarca)

Vigo is a comarca in the Galician province of Pontevedra. The overall population of this local region is 413,996.

Th comarca is formed from the following municipalities:

Coordinates: 42°12′00″N 8°41′00″W / 42.2°N 8.68333°W / 42.2; -8.68333