Julio Jimenez (writer)

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Julio Jiménez is a Colombian writer of telenovelas for RTI Colombia.

His telenovelas

Julio Jiménez has written numerous telenovelas including:

Bella Calamidades (2009), Madre Luna (2007), La viuda de blanco (2006), El cuerpo del deseo (2005), "Pasión de gavilanes" (2003), "Amantes del desierto" (2001), "Luzbel esta de visita" (2001), "Rauzán" (2000), Yo amo a Paquita Gallego (1998), "La Casa del naranjo" (1998), "La Viuda de Blanco" (1996), "Las Aguas mansas" (1994), "En cuerpo ajeno" (1992), Profanación (1976), El ángel de piedra, El cazador nocturno, El gallo de oro, El hijo de Ruth, El hombre de negro, El Virrey Solís, Recordarás mi nombre, La abuela, La feria de las vanidades, La marquesa de Yolombó, La pezuña del diablo, Lola Calamidades, Los cuervos, Los premios, Mi segundo enemigo, Por qué mataron a Betty, Un largo camino,"gavilanes"(2010)

History of the Jimenez telenovela

Julio’s first success was the telenovela “La abuela” (The Grandmother) that during the 1980s was a grand hit in Colombia even though it was not the typical love story one would expect in a telenovela. The very tough, cold hearted character of the grandmother and her evil actions arose some protests in Colombia but that did not stop the telenovela from getting to be so successful that the story was taken to the big screen making a very interesting film. In 1986 his series “Los cuervos” registers the highest rating ever in Colombian television. Shortly after in 1992 Julio writes the telenovela “En cuerpo ajeno” again this telenovela breaks the record of rating ever reached in Colombia becoming one of the greatest hits of Colombian television. Two years later in 1995 Julio’s telenovela “Las agues mansas” turns into an international hit. 1996 brings yet another hit in the career of Jimenez. His telenovela “La viuda de blanco” is an international success that helps Colombian telenovelas get to countries like Serbia, Romania and Cyprus. In 1998 Julio writes “Yo amo a Paquita Gallego” a telenovela so successful in Colombia that its couple appeared in commercial products such as shoes. It was also a big hit in other Latin American countries as well as internationally. In 2000 Jimenez touches for the first time in a telenovela the subject of catalepsy in his telenovela "Rauzan".

In 2002 Julio starts working exclusively for RTI that has teamed up with Telemundo and he writes the remake of one of his own stories “Las agues mansas” which he renames to Pasión de gavilanes. As he says Pasion de gavilanes was the revenge of Las aguas mansas that had a lot of production problems and had not the success expected in Colombia besides its international good course. And a great revenge it was since this telenovela was meant to turn into one of the most successful telenovelas ever made, marking an international record of rating!

The worldwide fame and success of this telenovela has been great and still produces fruits. In Spain Pasión de gavilanes has known such success in 2005 that it was said to have woken the phenomenon of the “fans” in the country making the protagonists of the telenovela big stars! It was such the success of the telenovela in Spain that the best episodes are sold in a DVD collection of 14 DVDS and its soundtrack sold thousands of copies. Spain was just one of the nearly 100 countries that this big hit got to. In Colombia it was first in rating and its soundtrack first in sales for weeks, in all of Latin America it received numerous awards, in Argentina it’s unexpected (by a foreign telenovela) success surprised audience and TV stations and internationally it put Telemundo in the map making its telenovelas known from Philippines to Greece. The cast of the telenovela traveled in countries all over the world to promote it. In the United States Pasion de gavilanes (or PDG as fans call it) reached the highest rating up until then for a Telemundo telenovela. Due to that success a box of five DVDs is now sold in the USA with the "best of Pasion de gavilanes". Jimenez said he just took the original story he started las aguas mansas with and wrote a new telenovela and he wasn’t lying since Pasion de gavilanes only started with the same story but developed very differently. The fact is the international record of rating of this telenovela, the releasing and re-releasing of its soundtrack but most importantly the fan clubs of the telenovela all over the world was Julio’s very best possible entrance in Telemundo.

2005 marks the return of Jimenez in the world of telenovelas after Pasion de gavilanes with yet another telenovela of incalculable impact in the history of Hispanic television and enormous success in the United States and worldwide. This time it’s the remake of his telenovela En cuerpo ajeno that Jimenez brings to life again writing El cuerpo del deseo that came to surpass its original! El cuerpo del deseo holds the record of highest rating ever achieved by a telenovela of Telemundo in the United States.[citation needed] People who could not even speak Spanish watched and declared to have loved the telenovela. El cuerpo del deseo became as Telemundo advertised “your reason to watch Telemundo”. Due to its success a box of five DVDs is now sold in the USA with the "best of El cuerpo del deseo". In 2006 a novel cold "El deseo ajeno" was published in the United States that was a continuation of the telenovela El cuerpo del deseo. The novel marked high sales and was among the first in sales Spanish novels in the USA during the first weeks of its publication. In the screenings of 2005 El cuerpo del deseo gets the highest sales of a telenovela of Telemundo and its world tour begins with countries as Spain (where it took the place of Pasion de gavilanes and was a big hit in ratings creating a big fan club for the female protagonist of the telenovela Lorena Rojas), Puerto Rico, Peru, Bulgaria, Israel etc.

In 2006 Jimenez started writing another remake of his telenovela La viuda de blanco that aired in Telemundo (USA) and Colombia almost at the same time. In the end of 2006 and beginning of 2007 the telenovela was sold to Spain and aired in TVE. For the first time in a long time a non-Spanish production got to have 19 to 20 points of rating daily in TVE. For most of the time that La viuda de blanco aired in Telemundo(USA) it had higher rating than the other telenovelas of telemundo airing the same period (Marina, Amores de mercado and Amor mio). In 2007 Jimenez reviewed an original story he had written years ago (but never was produced) called Madre Luna that is to air in telemundo shortly and is expected to be a big hit.

The nature of Julio Jimenez’ writing

Jimenez’s writing follows the traditional Latin American formula of magic realism (in which elements of the miraculous could appear without seeming forced and unnatural) presenting in his fictional worlds the all too real magic of tales as old as time but presented as never before. Whether it is a ghost (pasion de gavilanes) or two babies born in such weird circumstances as to be destined to be together (as in Yo amo a Paquita Gallego) or coming back to life(En cuerpo ajeno and later El cuerpo del deseo) Jimenez left the magic of the world take over his all too real fiction.

Julio’s heroes are many-sided, strong, imposing and mysterious but at the same time with a very realistic emotional world and way of thinking. They are neither evil nor angelic. Behind their mysterious figures Julio’s heroes hide suppressed emotions, fears and a world of feelings that are revealed gradually. The spectators’ first impression of Julio's heroes turns out to be a very small aspect of a very big story.

The atmosphere in Jiménez’s telenovelas is always full of obscurity and connotes hidden secrets that will surprise the viewer. What makes Julio’s heroes more interesting is that they are sometimes inspired by real people. He himself confesses that la abuela (the grandmother) of his telenovela of the same name is inspired by his own grandmother and that Gabriela (Pasión de gavilanes) is really the figure of his mother that he came to understand and love more through the telenovela.

Elements Jiménez uses in his telenovelas

Isolated worlds: A telenovela written by Jiménez takes place sometime, someplace but you never know when or where that is. In a small village (la viuda de blanco, Rauzan) or a big mansion (El cuerpo del deseo) but always in the middle of nowhere or better yet it could be anywhere.

Female figures: The female figure in Jiménez's telenovelas is always bewildering and distinguishes for its strength and self appreciation. A heroine in a J.J. telenovela imposes respect for herself without demanding it; merely her presence seems to inspire it. Julio’s women are peculiar in one way or another. Whether a woman incapable of crying (Yo amo a Paquita Gallego) or a tough woman of principles (Sarita in Pasión de gavilanes) or even one that is capable of killing (El cuerpo del deseo) is still a figure you sympathize with and at the same time you are mesmerized by her.

Use of nature: Jiménez gives nature a part in all his telenovelas; as he said himself in Pasion de gavilanes he “put the heroes on a horse and made the landscape the protagonist”.

Jiménez has an inclination towards water too; he always uses the element of water in his telenovelas. Whether a heroine drowns herself in a river (Pasión de gavilanes), drowns somebody in a lake (El cuerpo del deseo) or is simply presented having as a favorite place a lake (La viuda de blanco 1996), water is always there in the work of Jiménez.

External links

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