The 14th FICM to pay tribute to actress Consuelo Frank

Each year the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) honors an outstanding figure from Mexican cinema born in the state of Michoacán. In its 14th edition, the festival will pay tribute to actress Consuelo Frank. She participated in the first Mexican silent films and in productions from Mexican cinema’s Golden Age, as well as in plays and in national television programs.

In previous years, FICM has honored the Michoacán born José Rubén Romero, Fernando Méndez, the Alva brothers, Stella Inda, Lilia Prado, Fanny Cano, Julio Alemán, Damián Alcázar and Chucho Monge, among others.

Born in Arteaga, Michoacán, on April 25 of 1912, Consuelo Frank had her national film debut with a brief role in La boda de Rosario (1929) by Gustavo Sáenz de Sicilia; she later began her career in the talkies with the female lead role in Tierra, amor y dolor, filmed in 1934 by Ramón Peón and Julián S. González for Atlas Films.

Dolores Camarillo Fraustita, Antonio R. Frausto, Joaquín Busquets and Consuelo Frank.
Monja y casada, virgen y mártir (1935), by Juan Bustillo Oro.

After working with Fuentes and her return to “the Mecca of cinema”, the actress collaborated with some of the most important film pioneers, who with their talent and passion, set the bases of the structure of our cinema. Works like El calvario de una esposa (1936) by Juan Orol, one of the highlights of maternal melodrama; ¡Ora Ponciano! (1936) by Gabriel Soria, a popular folkloric comedy which made the actress famous in many countries of Latin America; and Nostradamus (1936) by Juan Bustillo Oro, among others.

In Mexican cinema’s Golden Age, Frank participated in films like El Conde de Montecristo (1942) by Chano Urueta; Los dos pilletes (1942) by Alfonso Patiño Gómez; and Los tres mosqueteros (1942) by Miguel M. Delgado; films which put her name among other actresses who belonged to the national star system of the time: Lupita Tovar, Nancy Torres, Carmen Guerrero, Andrea Palma, María Luisa Zea, Adela Sequeyro, Lupita Gallardo, Josefina Escobedo, Stella Inda, etcétera.

Her trajectory in film suffered two interludes (from 1943 to 1947 and from 1948 to 1951) which kept her away from the sets, to which she returned to play parts in Las tres perfectas casadas (1952) by Roberto Gavaldón and El mártir del calvario (1952) by Miguel Morayta. Frank would come back to cinema in 1957 to participate in around 70 films playing supporting roles including Macario (1959) by Roberto Gavaldón; Así amaron nuestros padres (1964) by Juan Bustillo Oro; and in some examples from the so-called “New Mexican Cinema” like Muñeca reina (1971) by Sergio Olhovich and Misterio (1979) by Marcela Fernández Violante. Before her death in Mexico City, on March 31 of 1991, Consuelo Frank also worked in television, in supporting roles that kept her active in the field. Her career was an example of professionalism and of commitment to the artistic causes of the country.