Colombian-born film programmer and cultural promoter Enrique Ortiga died this week. He was an influential and beloved figure in Latin American film culture, archiving, curatorship, history, and education, particularly in Colombia and Mexico.
Born in Cartagena in 1955, he began his film career in 1977 as a committee member of the University of Cartagena. He served as an assistant programmer at the Cartagena Film Festival in the late seventies and early eighties, and was the director the film club at the Tadeo Lozano University. Between 1984 and 1992, he founded and served as director of the Film Department at the Modern Art Museum of Bogota (MAMBO). He also was close to the famed Grupo de Cali, spearheaded by Luis Ospina, Carlos Mayolo and Andrés Caicedo.
Ortiga also worked as a guest archivist and programmer in the Film Department of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. He worked at the prestigious film school Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (CCC) in Mexico City and was a played a key role in the International Film Schools Festival produced by the school. He also worked as an archivist and programmer at Mexico’s National Cinematheque; he was head of international exchange programs at the Filmoteca de la UNAM, the Film Archive of Mexico’s National University; and also worked in the promotion and marketing department of the Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE).
In 1994, with Daniela Michel, Ortiga created the Jornadas de Cortometraje Mexicano, a festival dedicated to the promotion of Mexican short films, that served as precursor to the influential Morelia Film Festival, which celebrated its 21st edition last October. He was also a mentor to Paula Astorga, who created the pivotal Mexico City Contemporary Film Festival (FICO) and later served as the head of the National Cinematheque, overseeing its successful expansion.
Ortiga also worked as head publicist of production company Titán Producciones, overseeing the campaigns for the 1999 Mexican blockbuster Sexo, pudor y lágrimas by Antonio Serrano, and the movies Vivir mata (2002) by Nicolás Echeverría and Lucía, Lucía / La hija del caníbal (2003) by Antonio Serrano.
