Amílcar Tirado (April 9, 1922 - January 24, 2004) was a Puerto Rican filmmaker active primarily during the 1950s and 1960s. Working for the

Puerto Rican Division of Community Education The Puerto Rican Division of Community Education (Spanish: ''División de Educación de la Comunidad'', DIVEDCO) was an agency established in 1949 with the purpose of producing cultural materials for public education on the island of Puerto Rico. L ...

in the Audiovisual Department, Tirado created socially-minded films, often using local jíbaros as actors.

Biography

Amílcar Tirado was born in Coamo, Puerto Rico. Served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

era. He received a bachelor's degree in theater from the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,3 ...

in 1944 and a master's degree in theater directing from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1945. He worked as a consultant for

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

during the 1950s. He was involved in the

from its outset and continued working with the division until 1965. Tirado taught at the

for a short time in 1965–1967, although he continued to be involved in Puerto Rican film production after this. He continued his education during the later half of his life and also taught at various universities. He died at Pavia Hospital in Santurce, Puerto Rico in 2004 after suffering with

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

. He was buried at the

Puerto Rico National Cemetery Puerto Rico National Cemetery is a United States national cemetery located in the city of Bayamón, in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It encompasses of land, and at the end of 2005, had 44,722 interments. Until 2021, it was the only United St ...

Bayamón, Puerto Rico Bayamón (, ) is a Bayamón barrio-pueblo, city, Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality of Puerto Rico and suburb of San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan located in the northern coastal valley, north of Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico, Aguas Buenas an ...

Career in cinema

Amílcar Tirado, and the division he worked for in general, was very prolific. He created over 50 productions throughout his career, although many were short educational films that have been lost. His most known films are El gallo pelón (1961), El Puente (1954) and Los Peloteros (1951). He worked with many other DIVEDCO artists on productions, including having posters made by famous

Puerto Rican art Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States. Puerto Ricans (Spanish: ''puertorriqueños'' or ''boricuas'') are the people of Puerto Rico, the inhabitants, and citizens of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and their descendants. Puerto Rico is ...

ists like Lorenzo Homer. His films draw comparison to

Italian Neorealist films Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

that also focused on

everyday Everyday or Every Day may refer to: Books * ''Every Day'' (novel), by David Levithan, 2012 Film * ''Every Day'' (2010 film), an American comedy-drama starring Liev Schreiber and Helen Hunt * ''Everyday'' (film), a 2012 British drama direct ...

lower-class life, filming on location and using untrained actors.

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tirado, Amilcar 1922 births 2004 deaths Burials at Puerto Rico National Cemetery Deaths from Alzheimer's disease People from Coamo, Puerto Rico University of Puerto Rico alumni David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni United States Army soldiers