Lourdes Portillo, director of the 1994 documentary “The Devil Never Sleeps,” a visual artist, investigative journalist and social activist, died Saturday at her home in San Francisco. She was 80 years old.
Portillo focused on writing, directing, and producing films and videos centered on the emotions and situations of the Latin American, Mexican, and Chicano experiences. Portillo's documentary blends storytelling approaches to focus on themes of identity and social justice in the United States and Latin America.
Portillo was 21 when he helped a friend produce his first documentary and then began his formal film training. She produced her first film called “After the Earthquake” or “Despues del Terremoto” in 1979. Most of her work was documentary film, but she also created a variety of video installations and screen writing.
The Academy Film Museum currently has a gallery experience highlighting Portillo's life and career as part of a limited series and spotlight. This film joins her major projects including “Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo”, “La Ofrenda: The Days of the Dead”, “The Devil Never Sleeps”, “Señorita Extraviada” or “Missing Young Woman”. Focus.
In her documentary “Missing Young Women,” Portillo investigated the kidnapping, rape and murder of more than 350 young women in Juárez, Mexico, near the U.S. border. Most of the women were factory workers, and authorities made little or no effort to seek or provide justice for them. Portillo focuses on the testimony of the victims' families to uncover the layers of conspiracy that allowed these murders to continue.
Her documentary “Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo” focused on the mothers of Argentina's Desaparecido, thousands of citizens who disappeared during Argentina's military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983. Politically active mothers held weekly demonstrations in Plaza de Mayo calling on the government to take action. To release information about your missing child. Co-produced with filmmaker Susana Blaustein Muñoz, the film 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 three sons and a sister.