Marcela Fernandez Violante is one of Mexico’s most talented filmmakers
that have endured in the male dominated film industry. She was the 2nd
generation to graduate from Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematogràficos
(CUEC) (UNAM) in 1964-1968. From 1970 to 1976 she graduated from the National
University of Mexico (UNAM) with a degree on “Letras Dramaticas” under the
faculty of Arts and Philosophy. [i]
In 1972 she created a short documentary about Frida Kahlo,
Marcela was the 1st women to approach the painter’s life. It won her
several important awards in Mexico and London. She also exposed her short in
the 1972 Germany Oberhausen Film Festival, then the Guggenheim museum in 1974.
This short demonstrated her forte in the industry. In 1975
she was given the opportunity to coordinate Film Workshops at the Casa del
Lago. Beteween 1974 and 1975 she
produced and directed a television program seminar dedicated to the study of
the History of Universal Cinema. In 1978 Marcela Fernandez Violantes was
technical secretary of CUEC and in 1985 became the director. In 1998 she was
ratified General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers Union of
Film Production (STPC) by the Members of the Supervisory Committee of the
Society of Writers in Mexico.
Marcela Fernandez Violante has lectured on film at the University of New Orleans, Loyola University New Orleans, University of California, UR, Autonomous University of Aguascalientes, among other educational institutions. He has participated in meetings and international film festivals, including the Festival International Jury in Moscow (1981), in Havana, Cuba (1982), in Huelva, Spain (1989).
Marcela Fernandez Violante has lectured on film at the University of New Orleans, Loyola University New Orleans, University of California, UR, Autonomous University of Aguascalientes, among other educational institutions. He has participated in meetings and international film festivals, including the Festival International Jury in Moscow (1981), in Havana, Cuba (1982), in Huelva, Spain (1989).
Her films have been created in between her desk jobs.
Her first auteur feature was “Whatever You Do, It’s No Good”
(1974-75), told from the eyes of a general’s daughter. The film was a strong
critic of structure of the military and the church. Violante was also was part of the set
design. The film won her prestigious
awards in Mexico, and the opportunity to exhibit the film in MOMA in 1976.
In the same year she created “Cananea”, another of her masterpieces
that talked about the pre Mexican Revolution. The story is narrated through the
eyes of a North American mineworker, although there are more than two active
female characters present in the film, passing Annita’s Bechdel test.
As the only female member of the film directors’ union,
Marcela Fernandez Violane was personally well aware of the problems that women
directors face in the industry. In Cananea she worked with Gabriel Figueroa,
the Mexican totem of cinematography, which had already worked with John Ford.
There was a struggle of power, mainly because as she describes it “a woman
doesn’t inspire respect”. Violante demanded respect; her knowledge in set was
unquestionable so the crew would give in to her orders. [ii]
Her films sparked reevaluations of family codes, bourgeois
conformity, machismo, heterosexuality and Mexico’s socioeconomically
developments. For the first time cinema was interrogating social topics as
never before. [iii]
Being one of the most outstanding auteurs, Marcela created national relics of the nation’s history. Marcela Fernandez Violante continues to produce and support female writers, and directors in the industry. She is currently the Secretary General of the Union of Film Production in Mexico (STPC), a member of the Society of Writers in Mexico (SOGEM), and chairs the cultural association Matilde Landeta. [iv]
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