Julio Fernández, the pioneering founder of Barcelona studio Filmax and co-architect of itsFantastic Factory which galvanised Spain’s auteur genre production, died Nov. 17. in Miami. He was 78.

Born in rural Galicia, in A Fonsagrada in the province of Lugo, Fernández was typical of a region which emigrated for larger opportunities in Spain’s fast building cities. Few, however, had Fernández’s ambitions and eye for the main chance. If genre and animation are two of the current international market’s going concerns, Fernández anticipated this getting on for 30 years ago.

In 1987, Fernández bought Filmax, a Paramount library movie distributor in the 1960s, dedicated to video, but which Fernández and younger brother Carlos Fernández wanted to move into theatrical distribution. Buoyed by cin

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