Description
Documentary filmmaker Lourdes Portillo is interviewed in her San Francisco, California home by Sienna Mclean LoGreco on December 5th, 2013. It is a co-production with the Getty Foundation’s Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA initiative and is part of the project From Latin America to Hollywood: Latino Film Culture in Los Angeles 1967—2017. Portillo discusses the impact that immigrating to Los Angeles from Chihuahua, Mexico at the age of 13 had on her social consciousness, which would later influence her work in documentary film. She describes her first experience working on a movie set and how it inspired her later involvement in the San Francisco independent filmmaking community. Portillo delves into the dangers she faced while making the documentary, Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza Del Mayo (1985), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. She outlines the creative and ethical choices she made on her personal documentary The Devil Never Sleeps (1994), incorporating footage and stories surrounding her uncle and the rest of her family. Other films addressed at length include La Ofrenda: The Days of the Dead (1988), Corpus: A Home Movie for Selena (1999), and Señorita Extraviada (2001). Throughout the interview, Portillo provides insights into how family dynamics have affected her perspective as a filmmaker, how her Latino roots shape the subjects she tackles, her quest for social justice, and her views on professional ethics in documentary filmmaking.
(jtakahashi 7/21/17)
