José Gutierrez Razura
Social and Cultural Diversity in Mexican Film Education
In Mexico, and everywhere else, film schools are spaces intended for the middle and upper classes. Even in public institutions, where tuition is free, the selection process is usually highly competitive. Preference is generally given to students who arrive with a solid background, people who have read, traveled, and had family support to study without having to work, and people who live in an environment where artistic activity is welcomed. In Mexico, and I suppose everywhere else, those who are not fortunate enough to have received a quality education, those who must work to survive, and those who live in environments where art is seen as something foreign, find it difficult to access a place in film schools.
This inequity was one of the reasons that motivated the Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México to create the Associate Degree in Media Production. Between 2020 and 2024, 16 students, 9 women and 7 men, had the opportunity to study with a scholarship close to 100%. Our main goal was for these students to acquire the skills to integrate quickly into the workforce. What we didn't anticipate was that this very small film school would produce filmmakers capable of creating their own films. In my presentation, I will share with you this experience that opened the doors to the social and cultural diversity of our country into the film expression.
José Gutiérrez Razura is screenwriter, director, producer, and professor of film. He holds a bachelor's degree from ITESO and a master's degree from the University of Guadalajara. He has written and directed sixty documentaries and six fiction short films. Additionally, he wrote and directed "Otro Tipo de Música" a feature film that has participated in various festivals across Mexico, the United States, South America, and India. He was the creator and first coordinator of the MA in Filmmaking and the Associate Degree in Media Production, both at the Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México, where he currently directs IBERO TV, a documentary in-house production facility.