Film: María Candelaria (Portrait of Maria)

Restoration World Premiere

Set among the waterways of Xochimilco on the outskirts of Mexico City, Emilio “El Indio” Fernández’s masterpiece from Mexico’s Época de oro finds sensation Dolores del Río (1904–1983) in one of her first Mexican films after a 20-year stint in Hollywood. Starring against type as humble indígena María, del Río’s exquisite features, stripped of her usual glamorous makeup, are lovingly lensed by revered director of photography Gabriel Figueroa. This tragedy of star-crossed lovers took home a Grand Prix at the first-ever Cannes Film Festival in 1946 and a trophy for Figueroa’s cinematography, helping bring international attention to the filmmaking team and establish Mexico as a major player on the world cinema stage.

DIRECTED BY: Emilio Fernández. WRITTEN BY: Mauricio Magdaleno, Emilio Fernández. WITH: Dolores del Río, Pedro Armendáriz, Alberto Galán, Margarita Cortés. 1943. 102 min. Mexico. B&W. Spanish. DCP. Restored in 2024 by the Academy Film Archive, TelevisaUnivision, Filmoteca UNAM, and The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project. Restoration funding provided by the Material World Foundation. Screening courtesy of Televisa Foundation–Univision Foundation.