Garbo: The Spy

NEW DOCS

Joan Pujol Garcia, self-made double agent, is the only person to have been decorated by both the Allies and the Axis for service during World War II. The man whom British intelligence code-named Garbo and Germans dubbed Arabel was Graham Greene’s inspiration for Our Man in Havana.He fed false information to the Nazis (nearly diverting them on D-Day from Normandy to the Pas de Calais) and fabricated a network of phantom agents across Europe, while residing in the relative comfort of Lisbon himself. Does this controversial Catalonian deserve to be lauded as a hero or dismissed as an opportunist with an overactive imagination? In this documentary thriller, director Edmon Roch artfully interweaves fragments of newsreel and propaganda footage, interviews with key players in Pujol’s life, and clips from Hollywood films to conjure forgotten and living memories, heroes and spies, secrets and lies.  DP

Director

Edmon Roch

Producers

Edmon Roch, Sandra Hermida, Belen Bernuy

Editor

Alexander Adams

Cinematographers

Beth Rourich, Gabriel Guerra, Joachim Bergamin

Release Year

2009

Festival Year

2010

Country

Spain

Run Time

88 minutes