Fernández, Emilio "El Indio" (1904–1986)

Emilio "El Indio" Fernández (b. 26 March 1904; d. 6 August 1986), Mexican film director. Beginning his studies in the military academy, by the mid-1920s Fernández was in Hollywood, learning the craft of filmmaking. In the next decade, he returned to Mexico and worked as an actor in cinema. He debuted as a director with La isla de la pasíon in 1941. Among his most celebrated films are María Candelaria (1943), Bugambilia (1944), Flor silvestre (1944), Pueblerina (1946), Enamorada (1946), Río escondido (1946), Salón México (1954), and La red (1954). His films won numerous national and international awards and brought Mexican cinema to the attention of both Mexican and foreign audiences. Through a nationalistic and artistic treatment of subjects, Fernández extolled the beauties and virtues of Mexico and its people, particularly the campesino and the Indian. Fernández is one of Mexico's leading directors and a major figure of world cinema.

See alsoCinema: From the Silent Film to 1990; Mexico: Since 1910.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Luis Reyes De La Maza, El cine sonoro en México (1973).

E. Bradford Burns, Latin American Cinema: Film and History (1975).

Carl J. Mora, Mexican Cinema: Reflections of a Society: 1896–1980 (1982).

John King, Magical Reels: A History of Cinema in Latin America (1990).

Additional Bibliography

Cuesta, Javier, and Helena R. Olmo. Emilio El Indio Fernández. Madrid: Dastín, 2003.

Rozado, Alejandro. Cine y realidad social en México: Una lectura de la obra de Emilio Fernandez. Guadalajara: Universidad de Guadalajara, Centro de Investigación y Enseñanza Cinematográficas, 1991.

Tuñón, Julia. Los rostros de un mito: Personajes femeninos en las películas de Emilio Indio Fernández. Mexico City: Conaculta, 2000.

                                                        David Maciel