--- title: "JOSÉ LUIS MATAS NEGRETE WALKS TOWARDS THE OSCAR" lang: "en" type: "noticia" updated: "2026-07-20" url: "https://www.fraternidad.com/en/jose-luis-matas-negrete-walks-towards-the-oscar" translations: es: "https://www.fraternidad.com/es-ES/noticias/jose-luis-matas-negrete-camina-hacia-el-oscar" ca: "https://www.fraternidad.com/ca-ES/jose-luis-matas-negrete-camina-cap-a-l-oscar" eu: "https://www.fraternidad.com/eu-ES/jose-luis-matas-negrete-oscarera-ibiltzen-da" gl: "https://www.fraternidad.com/gl-ES/jose-luis-matas-negrete-camina-cara-o-oscar" en: "https://www.fraternidad.com/en/jose-luis-matas-negrete-walks-towards-the-oscar" zh-hans: "https://www.fraternidad.com/cn/hesai-luyisi-matasi-neigeleitezouxiangaosika" --- ![Imagen Noticias](/sites/default/files/styles/style_1920x400/public/default_images/AdobeStock_71587395.jpg?itok=mOsqCscy) # JOSÉ LUIS MATAS NEGRETE WALKS TOWARDS THE OSCAR 17/01/2014 News ## JOSÉ LUIS MATAS NEGRETE WALKS TOWARDS THE OSCAR 12/26/2013. Date of interview José Luis Matas Negrete, doctor at Fraternidad-Muprespa and producer, along with Esteban Crespo, director of the short That wasn't me, were nominated for the Oscars in the category of best live-action short film. Being the only Spanish representation in the 86th edition. Last year it won the Goya for best Spanish fiction short film and has received numerous awards. That wasn't me is close to the figure of the so-called "child soldiers", the filming took place in four days on a farm in Escalona. In this interview we offer the closest image of this Ciudad Real resident who is heading towards the red carpet. --- [](/styles/imgs/noticias/mutua-Fraternidad-Muprespa-Jose-Luis-Matas-Negrete-medico-grande.jpg) General Medicine Physician. ![Mutua Fraternidad-Muprespa]()F.M.: Where does your vocation for medicine come from? J.L.M.: I remember watching some operation on television and I was attracted to it. From then on I wanted to be a doctor, without a doubt. Finally I headed that way. I love Grey's Anatomy! (laughs) F.M.: What specialty do you have? J.L.M.: General medicine, as soon as I finished I went straight to Film School. F.M.: So, your passion for cinema…? J.L.M.: When people ask me what vocation I have or what profession I like... I like both things equally and I combine them. Since I was little I loved watching movies, I wrote stories and, in fact, when I finished high school I thought about what to do: medicine or go to film school. When I was 17 and had my parents there, I thought the best option was to do medicine and then finish my film career. And that's what I did. The goat shoots the mountain! (laughs) F.M.: How many years are film school? J.L.M.: It's been 3 years, I've done the first two which were what interested me, when I enrolled it wasn't so they could give me a degree, I went because I liked it and to learn. At that time I went back and forth from Madrid to Ciudad Real every day because I was already working at Fraternidad-Muprespa. F.M.: Which one gives you the greatest satisfaction? J.L.M.: Satisfaction…? Maybe it may seem that now with the cinema and with the whole issue of awards I enjoy a lot: preparing a film, shooting it, taking charge of the festivals... Right now, we are in the middle of the pre-campaign for the Oscars, but it also gives me great satisfaction to see patients every day and see that you can do something for them and that you help them. I did medicine out of a vocation to help others. F.M.: How do you get along with your colleagues from the Ciudad Real delegation? J.L.M.: I get along well with all my colleagues. We are the afternoon shift, which I have been on for almost 6 years. We are three people, administrator, nurse and me; and we are great. In the afternoon you get brown spots that you can't solve like everyone else does in the morning, but we handle it very well and there is a very good work environment. I have been lucky with my colleagues and some of them are friends. [![Mutua Fraternidad-Muprespa - José Luis Matas Negrete en la Escuela de cine]()]()F.M.: Before you mentioned your parents, what does your family think about your professions? J.L.M.: My family was not very happy about me being a doctor at first because they said it is a very demanding profession... but between medicine and cinema, of course they prefer me to be a doctor (Laughs). Now they are delighted, but yes, at the beginning they told me that I had to have a "serious" career and that this film thing was very frivolous. F.M.: How do you adjust your time to combine medicine and cinema? J.L.M.: At Fraternidad-Muprespa I have afternoon hours, so I dedicate the mornings to the production company and the whole topic of cinema: production, now managing the campaign with the possible nomination and in the afternoons with my work as a doctor, without problem. And so far I'm doing very well, because sometimes when I don't have time I come to the Mutua a little earlier or I stay doing something. On filming days, sometimes I have to take vacations or my own business but I manage very well. F.M.: A person as dynamic as you surely has more hobbies. Can you tell us any? J.L.M.: Hobbies… Well, I love traveling and most of all, being with my friends. I studied medicine in Salamanca and every once in a while I get in the car and go there or to León or Madrid; I go and see friends whenever I have free time. In León to drink the botillo, I also have friends there from Fraternidad-Muprespa. I love seeing everyone. F.M.: "Random chance", "Apaga la luz" and "Aquel no era yo", to give an example, are short films with very different plots. Do you have a favorite genre? J.L.M.: Man, I really like the horror genre and the science fiction genre, but they are topics that I haven't gotten into much yet. I don't rule anything out because you never know where you can end up. Regarding the themes, in the works that you have mentioned, such as "Turn off the light", I was a production assistant and it is a work between terror and suspense. The other, "Azarosoaza" which I directed last year, has a bit of intrigue and social criticism. I have another short that I love although I don't have it up, because it is one of the first that I made and I recorded it with a home camera, which is called "Madrecita". It is set in the year 67 in the Christmas lottery... with a large, very humble family, and based on a real event about the mother of a friend of mine. The thing is that it is shot with very few resources. It is one of the ones I like the most and I am very fond of it. It is a short about characters and a lot of feeling. [![Mutua Fraternidad-Muprespa - José Luis Matas Negrete con el Goya]()](/styles/imgs/noticias/mutua-Fraternidad-Muprespa-Jose-Luis-Matas-Negrete-goya-grande.jpg)F.M.: You will soon direct the short film "Faralaes" with your script "very La Mancha" and which will be filmed in Ciudad Real. Drawing a parallel with Woody Allen and Manhattan, is Ciudad Real your fetish city or are you considering a story in other lands for the future? J.L.M.: We have postponed the short a little because of everything that has happened; We are in the final stages of "That wasn't me." I don't know if we will be able to shoot it next year because there is also a film planned that we will produce from Producciones Africanauan, which Esteban Crespo will direct. I also have another short film from La Mancha, totally in English called "La Mancha deep inside" (Laughs). Regarding Ciudad Real… well, I am very fond of it. I live here. I move and it is comfortable for me; It allows me to do other things. With time perhaps I would move to Madrid… And of course…I would love to film in New York!! F.M.: The Oscar-winning Almodóvar, as your countryman... Has he served as inspiration for you in any of your films? Any favorite director? J.L.M.: I like Pedro Almodóvar a lot and I like all his films. More than inspiration, he is a reference and what he manages to convey in his films helps you. It is a very personal cinema, but come on, we follow different paths. I really like Clint Eastwood as a director and I also really like Tim Burton… they are very different directors but I am very eclectic in terms of tastes. F.M.: Tell us a funny or shocking anecdote that happened to you during a shoot. J.L.M.: In one of the sequences that we were filming with the Land Rover, just when it arrived at the border crossing where the children were, the car stopped without a battery and let's see where we could get a battery from on a Sunday in a town in Toledo. Furthermore, we were running out of natural light, we didn't shoot with artificial light due to budget, so we had to work quickly and rush to solve everything and in the end everything turned out well. A curiosity is that the armored vehicles that the Army gave us had to be driven by soldiers, so we had to characterize them to simulate that they were African. [![Mutua Fraternidad-Muprespa - José Luis Matas Negrete en la entrega de los Goya]()]()F.M.: Winning a Goya is a very important achievement and we already know that you are a genius, but how are your nerves at the prospect of winning the Oscar, the most important award granted by the Hollywood Academy? J.L.M.: Since November 22, when we learned about the 10 short finalists of the shortlist, we have been in the pre-campaign. Now we have to wait until January 16 for the nominated short films to be announced and we will have to campaign so that as many academics as possible can see it and vote for it. Everything works on another level there... we will need publicists and we will have to be prepared in case we are nominated, don't let the bull get us! (Laughs). It's something that's a bit strange to me, because you never imagine that and when they tell you that you're among the 10 finalists you don't really believe it. I remember that when they told me, I was in a bar in Ciudad Real and my name was Esteban to tell me... we left all the beers we had just ordered because my cell phone was out of battery... And I came home to see it on the Internet!!! It gives me something if they tell me we're nominated! José Luis, you are already nominated, go for the statuette!!! A lot of shit!!! \#aporeloscar [Here begins 'That was not me' ![]()Link ](http://www.youtube.com/user/Aquelnoerayo) "Your Mutual - Quality and Service, 365 days a year" ![](/sites/default/files/styles/400x400/public/2016-12/mutua-Fraternidad-Muprespa-Jose-Luis-Matas-Negrete-medico_6.png?itok=vPKK1SH6)