By Mateo Pazzi
It’s time to celebrate the women in film and television who have won awards throughout the history of the Guanajuato International Film Festival. The first international meeting of Women in Film in Mexico was held more than 20 years ago at the then Expression in Shorts Festival. GIFF has awarded the La Musa Award to a number of women through the years; these women had demonstrated their preeminence through their roles in film. We wish to pay a tribute to these outstanding women as we name each of these unforgettable actresses: Angélica Aragón, Katy Jurado, Carmen Montejo, Isela Vega, Silvia Pinal, Lilia Prado, Amparito Arozamena, María Victoria, Delia Casanova, Jaqueline Andere, Ana Ofelia Murguía, Ofelia Medina, Adriana Roel, Queta Lavat, Pilar Pellicer, Evangelina Elizondo, María Rojo, Patricia Reyes Spíndola, Adriana Barraza and the iconic María Elena Velasco Fragoso “La India María.” All of these women were filmed during their careers either for television or for the cinema, in many cases during their entire lives.
The Association also recognizes the careers of the prodigious directors: Julie Taymor, Marcela Fernández, and Maryse Sistach; screenwriters Luciana Sonnenberger de Cabarga, Paz Alicia Garciadiego, and Beatriz Novaro; producers Carla Estrada, Bertha Navarro, Anna Roth, Carmen Armendáriz, Máfer Suárez, and María Novaro; art director Brigitte Broch; makeup artist Lucrecia Muñoz; costume designer Mariestela Fernández; Gloria Schoemann, editor of the so-called Golden Age of Mexican cinema. Kudos are also offered to the following: Guadalupe Ferrer, promoter of national cinema and the conservation of its film heritage; Guadalupe Ramírez, with one of the most discreet but essential tasks in film production—laboratory work, negative cutting, and restoration; famous telenovela writers Fernanda Villeli, and Marissa Garrido; executive director Deborah K. Bothun; and journalists Carmen Aristegui and Cristina Pacheco.