September 10, 2025
Film producer José Antonio Félez, responsible for 'La isla mínima' and 'Primos', dies
The filmmaker was 71 years old and had won a Goya Award throughout his career.
Film producer José Antonio Félez, winner of the Goya Award for Best Film for La isla mínima, died on Tuesday at the age of 71, according to the Andalusian Association of Film Producers (Ancine) on Wednesday. “We deeply regret the death of producer José Antonio Félez, who, along with our Andalusian creators and producers (Gervasio Iglesias, Alberto Rodríguez, Santi Amodeo, Rafael Cobos, etc.), was behind works such as El hijo zurdo, La isla mínima, and Astronautas, among others,” Ancine stated on its X profile.
Screenwriter and film director Daniel Sánchez Arévalo expressed his sorrow for Félez's passing on his Instagram profile, writing: "My older brother, my partner, my discoverer, my producer. Five films and one series together. More than twenty years together. You guided me, taught me, let me fly, picked me up when I fell. You gave me a profession. You were my creator, from calm, from composure, from reason."
Born in Madrid in 1954, José Antonio Félez has been responsible for the executive production of titles such as Diecisiete, La isla mínima, La peste, and Primos, and among his accolades was the Gold Medal at the 27th José María Forqué Awards.
With a law degree from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and a PDG from IESE, his first experience in the audiovisual sector was as deputy to the CEO of CBS/FOX in Spain in the late 1980s.
Between 1995 and 1998, he collaborated with Elías Querejeta and Prime Films on production, marketing, and organization tasks. During those years, he served as General Secretary of the Spanish Videographic Union, the national association of publishers and distributors, as well as General Secretary of the Association of Entertainment Software Distributors and Publishers (ADESE).
Between 2012 and 2018, he was president of the Spanish National Association of Film Producers (AECine). Félez debuted as an executive producer in 1998 with Eduardo Mignogna's El faro del sur, which won the Goya Award for Best Spanish-Language Film.
That same year, he founded Tesela Producciones Cinematográficas, which launched its debut in 2000 with the films A galope tendido (A gallop tendido) by Julio Suárez Vega; El factor Pilgrim (The Pilgrim Factor), the feature film directorial debut by Santi Amodeo and Alberto Rodríguez; and the acclaimed El Bola (The Ball) by Achero Mañas, with whom he collaborated again in Noviembre (2003).
He also produced Daniel Sánchez Arévalo's debut feature, AzulOscuroCasiNegro, which garnered more than 50 awards at festivals around the world, including three Goya Awards, three Biznagas at the Málaga Film Festival, and two accolades at the Venice Film Festival; and Gordos in 2009.
With Alberto Rodríguez and Rafael Cobos, his screenwriter and frequent collaborator, he created films such as Grupo 7 (2012), La isla mínima (2014), and the political thriller El hombre de las mil caras (2016), as well as the series La peste (2017), and later, in 2022, the series Las de la última fila (The Last Row) and the film Modelo 77, co-produced with Movistar+.
FELEZ, José Antonio
Born: 12/31/1953, Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Died: 9/9/2025, Spain
José Antonio Félez’s western – producer:
At Full Gallop - 2000
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