Lourdes Portillo dead at 80: Oscar-nominated film director has passed away

Oscar-nominated film director Lourdes Portillo has died at the age of 80. She passed away at her home in San Francisco and according to reports, she was surrounded by her younger sister and three sons when she died. 

The Hollywood Reporter said that “Portillo worked as a writer, director, producer, activist and journalist to create work that centred on Latin American and Mexican stories. Las Madres – The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, released in 1985, highlighted the mothers of Argentinian desaparecidos holding weekly protests in Buenos Aires’ Plaza de Mayo during Argentina’s military dictatorship. The documentary was nominated for an Oscar in 1986.”

Loudes Portillo who was born in  Chihuahua, Mexico, on 11 November 1943 and moved to Los Angeles along with her parents and four siblings when she was thirteen years old. 

Lourdes Portillo experienced filmmaking for the first time when she helped a friend out on a documentary. She then received film training and produced her first film ‘After the Earthquake’ or ‘Despues del Terremoto’ in 1979. 

According to Variety, “The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures currently has a gallery experience devoted to Portillo, highlighting her life and career, as a part of its Limited Series and Spotlights. It focuses on key 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.”

Lourdes Portillo co-created  ‘Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo’ with filmmaker Susana Blaustein Muñoz,and the movie was nominated for the Academy Award for best documentary feature in 1986. Lourdes has been described as a ‘visual artist, investigative journalist and social activist.’