The inspiration for the film began when writer-director Pablo Berger saw a photograph of bullfighting dwarves in '' España Oculta '' ( 1989 , ) , by Cristina García Rodero . By 2003 , Berger had written '' Blancanieves '' and was working to raise funds for it soon after his film '' Torremolinos 73 '' was appearing at festivals ; eight years later , in May 2011 , he was working on the storyboards for '' Blancanieves '' and about to begin principal photography when news reached him that '' The Artist '' had been shown at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival : " Nobody knew about '' The Artist '' until it appeared in Cannes . It was completely out of the blue . I was in my office in Madrid , doing the storyboards for my film , when a producer friend sent me a text message from the festival saying , ' I 've just seen The Artist , it 's black and white and silent and it 's going to be huge . ' I almost threw my phone against the wall . The high concept was gone . " According to Berger , '' Blancanieves '' is a " love letter to European silent cinema , ... especially French . Abel Gance for me is God . Movies like '' Napoleon '' , '' J'Accuse ! '' , '' La Roue '' are extraordinary . " On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes , '' Blancanieves '' holds an approval rating of 94 % , based on 106 reviews , and an average rating of 7.8 / 10 . It 's consensus reads , " Smartly written and beautiful to behold , '' Blancanieves '' uses its classic source material to offer a dark tale , delightfully told . " On Metacritic , the film has a weighted average score of 82 out of 100 , based on 21 critics , indicating " Universal acclaim "
2011 Cannes Film Festival
2011 Cannes Film Festival
Blancanieves