Gabriel Figueroa – Biography of Gabriel Figueroa

The filmmaker Gabriel Figueroa Mateos He was born in Mexico City on April 24, 1907. Figueroa He was orphaned when he was very young and had to look for work to survive, but he managed to feed his interest in painting and photography, studying with Eduardo Guerrero.

In 1932 he became a scene photographer, and then a camera assistant to Alex Phillips, a Canadian cinematographer who was an important part of the Mexican film industry. In 1935 Figueroa went to the United States to study as an assistant to Gregg Toland, one of Hollywood’s most creative filmmakers and a teacher of deep focus. Back in Mexico the following year, he made his debut as a cinematographer in “There in the big ranch“(1936).

His association with Emilio Fernández began in 1943 with “Wild flower“; their second film together,”Maria Candelaria“(1943), he won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 1946, in addition to the award for photographic excellence for Figueroa. He won this award again the following year with Fernández’s film “In love“(1946), followed by”The Pearl“(1946), based on a story by John Steinbeck about a poor Mexican diver who finds a huge pearl that brings him tragedy instead of wealth and happiness.

The diver was played by Pedro Armendariz, who also played the lead role in many of the team’s films. Although the film won the Grand Prix at San Sebastián, the script and direction are generally considered inferior to the film’s majestic photography.

Figueroa was hired as a consultant for the film “Tarzan and the mermaids“(1948), but he declined the offer to work in the US permanently. Both he and Fernández were fiercely patriotic, proud of the accolades they had brought to Mexican cinema. Most of the films they made together, reflect the social and economic conditions in which they grew up. Figueroa It was in stark contrast to the tempestuous Fernandez (who once shot a movie critic during an argument).

In 1950 Figueroa he worked for the first time with Luis Buñuel, in “Los Olv vivos”, a harshly realistic vision of children in poor neighborhoods, filmed in just 21 days.

Buñuel had a strict vision of the way he wanted the photography of his films to be and Figueroa he was able to interpret these goals, be it in the symbolic narrative passages or in the surreal dream sequences. “The forgotten“It earned the photographer another award at Cannes. Other films he made with Buñuel include”Nazarin“(1959),”The Young“(1961),” The exterminating angel “(1962) and” Simon of the desert “(1965).

When John Huston filmed the torrid Tennessee Williams story of an excommunicated priest working as a tour guide in Mexico, “The night of the iguana“(1964), it was Figueroa who helped him capture the necessary atmosphere of scorched earth and exotic flora, in which Richard Burton, Deborah Kerr and Ava Gardner acted out the dramatic story. For this work, Figueroa was nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography

In 1970 two action films by Clint Eastwood, shot in Europe, featured the photography of Figueroa, “Two Mules and a Woman” and “Kelly’s Violent”. He went back to working with Huston on what was to be his last film, “Under the volcano“(1984). Throughout his career he worked on 210 titles in which he served as cinematographer or co-director.

Gabriel Figueroa passed away on April 27, 1997 in Mexico City.