Lourdes Portillo, director of ‘The Devil Never Sleeps’, dies at the age of 80

Lourdes Portillo, filmmaker of the 1994 documentary “The Devil Never Sleeps” and visual artist, investigative journalist and social activist, died Saturday at her home in San Francisco. She was 80.

Portillo focused her work on writing, directing, and producing films and videos that focused on the emotions and conditions of Latin American, Mexican, and Chicano experiences. Portillo’s documentaries combined different modes of storytelling to focus on themes of identity and social justice in the US and Latin America.

Portillo was 21 when she first helped a friend on a documentary, after which she began formal film training. She produced her first film in 1979 called ‘After the Earthquake’ or ‘Despues del Terremoto’. Although the majority of her work consisted of documentaries, she also created several video installations and screen texts.

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures currently has a gallery experience dedicated to Portillo, highlighting her life and career, as part of its Limited Series and Spotlights. It focuses on important projects of hers, including ‘Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo’, ‘La Ofrenda: The Days of the Dead’, ‘The Devil Never Sleeps’ and ‘Señorita Extraviada’ or ‘Missing Young Woman’ .

Portillo explored the kidnapping, rape and murder of more than 350 young women in Juárez, Mexico, which borders the U.S., in her documentary “Missing Young Woman.” Most of the women were factory workers, for whom the authorities made little or no effort to find or secure justice. Portillo focuses on the testimonies of the victims’ families to unravel the layers of complicity that allowed these murders to continue.

Her documentary “Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo” focused on the mothers of Argentine desaparecidos, thousands of civilians who disappeared during Argentina’s military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983. Politically active mothers organized weekly protests in the Plaza de Mayo and incited the government to release information about their missing children. The film, made in collaboration with filmmaker Susana Blaustein Muñoz, was nominated for the 1986 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Portillo was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, and raised in Los Angeles. She is survived by her three sons and younger sister.

Best of variety

Related Posts