Dictionary of Mexican Film Directors, 657 Filmmakers’ Portraits

The new edition was presented by Perla Ciuk in the National Film Archives

As a tool that separates itself from electronic immediacy and doubtful sources of information, as well as a testimony aiming to unveil, far from tedious index cards,
The human side of filmmakers, Perla Ciuk defined the new edition of the Dictionary of Mexican Film Directors.
The dictionary in two volumes, which includes 657 filmmakers from the 19th century to our days, 127 of which have debuted in the last nine years was presented on Monday night at the room 4 of the National Film Archives.
Perla Ciuk was accompanied by Mexican Film Institute Director Marina Stavenhagen, National Film Archives Director Leonardo García Tsao, and filmmakers Luis Mandoki and Gustavo Moheno.
She recalled that the making of these two volumes signified a detective labor for more that 60 people participating in the data collection, who had to resort to the filmmakers themselves or their families in view of the lack of reference material.
“The reader will find trustworthy information, but also interesting data and anecdotes that will allow him or her to better understand the personality of each director”, Perla Ciuk said, who recounted her visit to the house of filmmaker Jesús H. Abitia, who is the author of many of the documentary films from the times of the Mexican Revolution.
“As I walked in to his home I found a camera full of bullet holes. Then I learned that Abitia was also a violin maker and that he founded the first film studio in a lot near Chapultepec.”
Marina Stavenhagen said that this dictionary constitutes a living testimony of the diversity of filmmakers that has emerged in Mexico since the 19th Century and how their vitality as creators has overcome different challenges to take their works to the large screen.
“These two volumes are also an invitation to reflect on a film industry for which it is necessary to open new channels of distribution, as well as to propitiate formulas for financial recuperation of their producers, without neglecting the support to programs for the making of the films.”
Luis Mandoki, in turn, said that making feature films on 35 millimeters continues to be a feat in developing countries.
“I have no doubt that filmmakers are among the most courageous beings in today’s Mexican society; it takes sometimes years to complete a project, they face adverse financial situations and finally a reduced exhibition ring.”
Gustavo Moheno said that this work allows the reader to change the old perception as to the meaning of dictionary, often associated to a huge tome with really small letters, with academic terms and tedious hard facts. “The most outstanding characteristic of these two volumes is the fidelity of the testimonies and the color and flavor of the anecdote”.
Leonardo García Tsao made everyone laugh when he mentioned how unreliable electronic sources of information can be, and how up to a few months back, filmmaker Felipe Cazals appeared in one of them as the son of a Basque terrorist.
There is a lot of fantasy in those electronic encyclopedias which nurture form user data. This dictionary reminds us of the practicality of the old school, the intimate consultation on paper. This is one of the best information tools on film of the last decades.”