José Luis Cuerda Martínez (18 February 1947 – 4 February 2020) was a Spanish filmmaker.

He is nationally recognised and considered to be amongst the greatest and most influential Spanish directors of all time,[1] having made such critically successful and culturally significant films as The Enchanted Forest (1987), Dawn Breaks, Which Is No Small Thing (1989) and Butterfly's Tongue (1999).

His films won four Goya Awards over the course of his career: Best Film and Best Original Screenplay for The Enchanted Forest, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Butterfly's Tongue and The Blind Sunflowers (2008).