Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (Spanish: [xoðoˈɾofski]; born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean-French filmmaker. Since 1948, Jorodowsky has worked as a novelist, a storyteller, a poet, a playwright, an essayist, a film director and producer, an actor in cinematic and theatre productions, a theatre director, a screenwriter, a film editor, a comics writer, a musician and composer, a philosopher, a puppeteer, a mime, a psychologist and psychoanalyst, a draughtsman, a painter, a sculptor and a spiritual guru. Best known for his avant-garde films, he has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his work which "is filled with violently surreal images and a hybrid blend of mysticism and religious provocation".