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Richard Peña Presented the Film Series "Ocultas de la Historia: Tres Directoras Estadounidenses" at the 19th FICM

The academic and director emeritus of the New York Film Festival, Richard Peña, presented the film series "Ocultas de la Historia: Tres Directoras Estadounidenses" at the 19th Morelia International Film Festival (FICM). The film series addresses the evolution in the role of women as filmmakers in U.S. cinema through a series of three illustrated lectures focusing on three figures: Lois Weber, an influential director of the silent film era; Ida Lupino, a popular actress who began directing in the late 1940s; and Barbara Loden, another actress-turned-director and a key figure of the New U.S. Cinema of the 1970s.

Where Are My Children? by Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley

By Gustavo R. Gallardo

Richard Peña, director of the film program of the Lincoln Center New York Film Society, presented Where are my children? (1916), by Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley, at the Morelia University Cultural Center the film as part of the film series "Ocultas de la Historia: Tres Directoras Estadounidenses."

In his message, Peña said that “it's always a pleasure” to be at FICM again and see “good friends, like Daniela Michel”, founder and general director of the festival, “who was kind enough to offer a series of talks this year, an invitation I enthusiastically accepted."

He said that "the issue of women in U.S. cinema behind the camera is very valuable in itself in addition to how, coincidentally, I had been presenting a series of programs on women directors in various parts of the world in recent years ."

In his extensive speech, Peña guaranteed that "women in the U.S. have always found it easier to make documentaries, avant-garde or animated films," adding that there was a time when women were relegated from positions of artistic authority (except as actresses) because of sexism.

However, he continued, “a closer look would have revealed that from the very beginning of the industry (women) had always been prominent in film production. A writer at the time said that perhaps the skills involved were similar to those of sewing."

Ultraje, by Ida Lupino

By Berenice Andrade

In the presence of Daniela Michel, founder and general director of the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), the academic and emeritus director of the New York Film Festival, Richard Peña, presented Ultraje (1950), a film by Ida Lupino that is part of of the film series "Ocultas de la Historia: Tres Directoras Estadounidenses."

Prior to the performance, Richard Peña gave a conference in which he spoke about the history and motivations of Ida Lupino, who after a successful acting career formed an independent company with her then-husband, Collier Young, which would produce six hard-hitting films from 1948 to 1953, all directed by her and several written at her request.

"Ida Lupino decided to establish her own production company to make the type of films that other studios would not, with real themes about real people and real situations, paying attention to social issues and with a neorealist aesthetic," Richard Peña said during his intervention.