Lourdes Portillo

Lourdes Portillo
Portillo receiving an award in 2015
Born(1943-11-11)11 November 1943
Chihuahua, Mexico
Died20 April 2024(2024-04-20) (aged 80)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
EducationSan Francisco Art Institute
Occupation(s)Film director, producer, writer
Years active1979–2024
Children3
Websitehttps://www.lourdesportillo.com/

Lourdes Portillo (11 November 1943 – 20 April 2024) was a Mexican film director, producer, and writer. The political perspectives of Portillo's films have been described as "nuanced" and versed with a point of view balanced by her experience as a lesbian[1] and Chicana woman.[2] Portillo films have been widely studied and analyzed, particularly by scholars in the field of Chicano studies.[3]

Portillo got her first filmmaking experience at the age of twenty-one when a friend in Hollywood asked her to help out on a documentary. Portillo formal training began several years later.[4] She had thus been making award-winning films about Latin American, Mexican, and Chicano/a experiences and social justice issues both as a director and screenwriter[5] for about forty years. Since Portillo first film in 1979, After the Earthquake (Después del Terremoto), she produced over 12 works that demonstrate her work as not only a director, but also an activist, artist, and journalist. While the majority of her work is in the documentary film genre, she also created video installations and screen writings.

  1. ^ Fregoso, Rosa Linda, ed. (2001). Lourdes Portillo: The Devil Never Sleeps and Other Films (1st ed.). University of Texas Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0292725249.
  2. ^ Avila, Robert (27 April 2009). "SFIFF52: Lourdes Portillo, Persistence of Vision Award Recipient". SF360.org. San Francisco Film Society. Archived from the original on 24 July 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  3. ^ "Latino Film Index". Lourdes Portillo website. n.d. Archived from the original on 27 June 2007. Retrieved 6 August 2007.
  4. ^ "African American Women's Lives Then and Now". www.wmm.com. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  5. ^ "IDA Documentary Awards 2017 - Lourdes Portillo". International Documentary Association. 12 September 2017. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.