Ripstein, Arturo (1943–)

Arturo Ripstein (b. 13 December 1943), Mexican film director. Ripstein studied law, art, and Mexican history at the National University of Mexico, the Universidad Iberoamericana, and El Colegio de México. He made his directorial debut at the age of twenty-one with the film Tiempo de morir (1965), which he followed with a number of noted films in the 1970s. He is one of the most respected directors of the post-1968 generation. Almost all his films have been financed by the state. Many of his best films are adaptations of literary works. His favorite cinematic themes are moral decay and social crises; he is also known for unique character studies. Among his critical successes are El castillo de la pureza (1972), La viuda negra (1977), La tía Alejandra (1978), El lugar sin límites (1977), El otro (1984), El imperio de la fortuna (1985), and Mentiras piadosas (1988), La reina de la noche (1994), Profundo carmesí (1996), La perdición de los hombres (2000), La virgin de la lujuria (2002), and Carnaval de Sodoma (2006). Ripstein received the Ariel for best direction from the Mexican film academy for Cadena perpetua and El imperio de la fortuna. His film Profundo Carmesí (Deep Crimson) has become one of his most celebrated films. It deals with the real-life "Lonely Hearts Murders" that took place in Mexico during the late 1940s. Ripstein is the only Mexican filmmaker aside from Buñuel to receive the National Prize for the Arts, which he was awarded in 1997.

See alsoBuñuel, Luis; Cinema: From the Silent Film to 1990; Cinema: Since 1990.

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

Aldama, Arturo. Violence and the Body: Race, Gender, and the State. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003.

Mora, Sergio de la. Cinemachismo: Masculinities and Sexuality in Mexican Film. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006.

Paranaguá, Paulo Antonio. Arturo Ripstein: La espiral de la identidad. Madrid: Cátedra, 1997.

                                                David Maciel