Mexican filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro, is an Oscar winner, an Emmy winner, and a Saturn winner – and now a doctor. Now, in addition to those awards, he is now Doctor Del Toro. La Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, one of the most prestigious schools in Mexico has granted him an honorary doctorate.
Dr. Del Toro said “I want to say that this is a singular honor. I think it is important as a Mexican to travel to creative spaces that are global, but always remember that your roots will never stop being in Mexico. That is what makes this a moving and personal moment because it comes from a university that has gone hand in hand with the deepest cultural life in Mexico. It is an award that is committed to what has been done, but it is committed to what is to come.”
Although he lives and works in the United States, he remains a proud citizen of Mexico. His Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror movies are admired worldwide.He won the Grand Prize European Fantasy Film in Silver at the 2002 Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival for El espinazo del diablo (2001) In 2018, he won three Oscars for The Shape of Water (Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Original Screenplay). His most recent project is new adaptation of Pinocchio.
del Toro was born October 9, 1964 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Because both his father and his friend James Cameron, director of Avatar, The Terminator, and Titanic) were kidnapped for ransom in Mexico, he lives in the USA in what he describes as i”nvoluntary exile [from my country].”
In his acceptance speech, Dr. del Toro told youn Mexican creatives (especially filmmakers, but also authors and artists) that el camino es abierto: the road is open. “That is what I want to say to the people who come, to the young people who may by chance be seeing this,” he said. “That path is open, it is legitimate and that path that was mine, I give it to you.”
Congratulations, Doctor Del Toro
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Susan Macdonald is the author of the children’s book “R is for Renaissance Faire”, as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in “Alternative Truths”, “Swords and Sorceress #30”, Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, “Cat Tails” “Under Western Stars”, and “Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid”. Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio’s web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions, Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows.
