Adela Sequeyro Haro (March 11, 1901 – December 24, 1992) was a Mexican journalist, actress, filmmaker and screenwriter. She was a pioneer of Mexican cinema both during the silent era and the talkies.
Early life Adela Sequeyro was born March 11, 1901, in Veracruz, MexicoTorres De San Martín, Patricia. "Chapter 3 - Adela Sequeyro and Mathilde Landeta: Two Pioneer Women Directors." Mexico's Cinema: A Century of Film and Filmmakers. Ed. Joanne Hershfield and David Maciel. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1999. 38. to a liberal and well-established family headed by Frederico Sequeyro-Arrola and Virginia Haro y Gutiérrez-Zamora. Financially weakened by the Mexican Revolution of the 1910s, the family was constrained to move to Cuautitlán. Sequeyro attended the French-English school of Mexico City before starting an early career in journalism.Torres De San Martín, Patricia. "Chapter 3 - Adela Sequeyro and Mathilde Landeta: Two Pioneer Women Directors." Mexico's Cinema: A Century of Film and Filmmakers. Ed. Joanne Hershfield and David Maciel. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1999. 38.
Career Beginning her journalism career in 1923, Sequeyro started writing about cinema for El Democráta.Torres De San Martín, Patricia. "Chapter 3 - Adela Sequeyro and Mathilde Landeta: Two Pioneer Women Directors." Mexico's Cinema: A Century of Film and Filmmakers. Ed. Joanne Hershfield and David Maciel. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1999. 38. She began acting the same year under the stage name Perlita and in 1933, she played an important part in Fernando de Fuentes's film, Él prisonero número trece.Rashkin, Elissa. "Chapter 1 - Trespassers: Women Directors before 1960." Women Filmmakers in Mexico: The Country of Which We Dream. Austin: U of Texas, 2001. 41." As her love for cinema grew fonder, Sequeyro became interested in filmmaking. However, as a woman, she was not able to join the industry's labor union.Torres De San Martín, Patricia. "Chapter 3 - Adela Sequeyro and Mathilde Landeta: Two Pioneer Women Directors." Mexico's Cinema: A Century of Film and Filmmakers. Ed. Joanne Hershfield and David Maciel. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1999. 39. In response, she founded the film production cooperative Éxito with support of the Banco de Credit PopularRashkin, Elissa. "Chapter 1 - Trespassers: Women Directors before 1960." Women Filmmakers in Mexico: The Country of Which We Dream. Austin: U of Texas, 2001. 45. and was able to produce her first film Más allá de la muerte in 1935.Rashkin, Elissa. "Chapter 1 - Trespassers: Women Directors before 1960." Women Filmmakers in Mexico: The Country of Which We Dream. Austin: U of Texas, 2001. 41. In 1937, Sequeyro founded another cooperative with her husband Mario named Carola with which she wrote, direct and produce her second film La Mujer de Nadie.Torres De San Martín, Patricia. "Chapter 3 - Adela Sequeyro and Mathilde Landeta: Two Pioneer Women Directors." Mexico's Cinema: A Century of Film and Filmmakers. Ed. Joanne Hershfield and David Maciel. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1999. 42. In 1938, despite financial difficulties, she wrote and directed Diabillos del arrabel.Alfaro, Eduardo De La Vega. "ADELA SEQUEYRO, MEXICAN FILM PIONEER." Journal of Film and Video 44.3/4, Latin American Cinema: Gender Perspectives (1992): 27-32. JSTOR. Web. 29 Mar. 2016. The film was a failure at the box office and, unable to pay her crew and forsaken by the union, she was compelled to sell the rights to her film.Torres De San Martín, Patricia. "Chapter 3 - Adela Sequeyro and Mathilde Landeta: Two Pioneer Women Directors." Mexico's Cinema: A Century of Film and Filmmakers. Ed. Joanne Hershfield and David Maciel. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1999. 43-44. By 1943, Sequeyro was bankrupt and retired from film production.Torres De San Martín, Patricia. "Chapter 3 - Adela Sequeyro and Mathilde Landeta: Two Pioneer Women Directors." Mexico's Cinema: A Century of Film and Filmmakers. Ed. Joanne Hershfield and David Maciel. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1999. 44. She returned to journalism and work for El Universal Gráfico her retirement in 1953.Torres De San Martín, Patricia. "Chapter 3 - Adela Sequeyro and Mathilde Landeta: Two Pioneer Women Directors." Mexico's Cinema: A Century of Film and Filmmakers. Ed. Joanne Hershfield and David Maciel. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1999. 38. During her journalism career, Sequeyro also worked in collaboration with El Universal Ilustrado, El Universal Taurino and Revista de Revistas.Alfaro, Eduardo De La Vega. "ADELA SEQUEYRO, MEXICAN FILM PIONEER." Journal of Film and Video 44.3/4, Latin American Cinema: Gender Perspectives (1992): 29. JSTOR. Web. 29 Mar. 2016. She wrote interviews, columns and reviews and would sometimes sign under the pseudonym of Perlita as reminiscence of old days.Torres De San Martín, Patricia. "Chapter 3 - Adela Sequeyro and Mathilde Landeta: Two Pioneer Women Directors." Mexico's Cinema: A Century of Film and Filmmakers. Ed. Joanne Hershfield and David Maciel. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1999. 44.
During her career, Sequeyro frequented important figures of the national culture scene of the time, including cartoonist Ernesto García Cabral, painter and filmmaker Adolfo Best Maugard and Arqueles Vela, poet, writer and founder of the Stridentism movement.Alfaro, Eduardo De La Vega. "ADELA SEQUEYRO, MEXICAN FILM PIONEER." Journal of Film and Video 44.3/4, Latin American Cinema: Gender Perspectives (1992): 29. JSTOR. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.
Late years Sequeyro's contributions to Mexican cinema were largely forgotten until Marcela Fernandez Violante interviewed her in 1986 for the implementation of her book on Mexican Women Film Pioneers published in 1987.Torres De San Martín, Patricia. "Chapter 3 - Adela Sequeyro and Mathilde Landeta: Two Pioneer Women Directors." Mexico's Cinema: A Century of Film and Filmmakers. Ed. Joanne Hershfield and David Maciel. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1999. 44. The CIEC/Universidad de Guadalajara also helped sponsored research to retrieve and restore Sequeyro's films.Rashkin, Elissa. "Chapter 1 - Trespassers: Women Directors before 1960." Women Filmmakers in Mexico: The Country of Which We Dream. Austin: U of Texas, 2001. 257. The very end of her life was spent under the care of her only child Sandra.Torres De San Martín, Patricia. "Chapter 3 - Adela Sequeyro and Mathilde Landeta: Two Pioneer Women Directors." Mexico's Cinema: A Century of Film and Filmmakers. Ed. Joanne Hershfield and David Maciel. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1999. 44. Sequeyro was 91 years old when she died in Mexico City on December 24, 1992.Alfaro, Eduardo De La Vega. "ADELA SEQUEYRO, MEXICAN FILM PIONEER." Journal of Film and Video 44.3/4, Latin American Cinema: Gender Perspectives (1992): 31. JSTOR. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.
Filmography YearTitleDirectorFeatured StarsNotes1923El Hijo de la LocaJosé S. OrtizÁngel E. Álvarez, Napoleón Placeres, Adela SequeyroActressAtavismoGustavo Sáenz de SiciliaErnesto García Cabral, Esther Carmona, Manuel París, Adela SequeyroActress1924No MatarásJosé S. OrtizCarlos Almanza, Luis Cots, Luis Diaz de Leon, Adela SequeyroActressUn Drama en la AristocraciaGustavo Sáenz de SiciliaErnesto García Cabral, Luis Gómez Rubín, Adela SequeyroActress1925Los Compañeros del SilencioBasilio ZubiaurAdela Sequeyro, Carlos Reyes del CallejoActress1927El Sendero GrisJesús CárdenasAdela Sequeyro, Carlos Reyes del CallejoActress1933El Prisionero TreceFernando de FuentesAlfredo Del Diestro, Luis G. Barreiro, Adela SequeyroActressLa Sangre MandaJosé Bohr, Raphael J. SevillaLon Chaney, Lois Moran, Owen MooreActress (extra)1934Mujeres sin AlmaRamón PeónConsuelo Moreno, Alberto Martí, Juan OrolActress1935Más allá de la muerteRamón PeónAdela Sequeyro, Miguel Arenas, Mario Tenorio, Magda HallerProduction, Scenario, Actress, Co-Direction1937Nobody's WifeAdela SequeyroAdela Sequeyro, Mario Tenorio, José Eduardo Pérez, Eduardo GonzálezDirection, Production, Scenario, Editing, Actress1938Diablillos del ArrabelAdela SequeyroJosé Emilio Pineda, Enrique Olivar, Alberto Islas,Direction, Production, Scenario
Bibliography
Rashkin, J.Elissa. Women Filmmakers in Mexico: The County of Which We Dream, Austin: U of Texas, 2001. Hershfield, Joanne, and David Maciel, eds. Mexico's Cinema: A Century of Film and Filmmakers. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1999. De La Vega Alfaro, Eduardo and Torres San Martín, Patricia. Adela Sequeyro, Guadalajara, Jalisco, México: Universidad De Guadalajara, 1997.
Footnotes