ISU Groundbreaking Research Reexamines a Mexican Film Adaptation

A new, in-depth study by Dr. José Eduardo Villalobos Graillet, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and Languages at Idaho State University, is bringing renewed attention to Celestina (1976), a little-known Mexican film that has long remained on the margins of film history. Published in Celestinesca, an international peer-reviewed journal issued by the University of Valencia, the research revisits the debut feature by Mexican director Miguel Sabido and examines why the film was overlooked for decades by critics and scholars.

Titled “Miguel Sabido and La Celestina in Mexico: A Historiographical Study of a Marginalized Adaptation,” the publication takes the form of an 80-page, lengthy feature study that offers the first complete reconstruction of the film’s development, production, and delayed public release. Drawing on archival documents, press materials, and historical analysis, Dr. Villalobos Graillet explains how political pressures, financial constraints, institutional oversight, and uneven distribution in 1970s Mexico shaped the film’s reception and contributed to its reputation as an unconventional adaptation of La Celestina (1499) by Fernando de Rojas.

Rather than examining the film in isolation, the study adopts an interdisciplinary perspective that places Celestina within a broader artistic landscape. It analyzes earlier theatrical adaptations of La Celestina, including stage versions created by Sabido himself, to show how the film emerged through a dialogue between literature, theater, and cinema.

The study also stands out for its use of original sources. Alongside archival records and contemporary reviews, it incorporates an in-depth interview conducted by Dr. Villalobos Graillet with Miguel Sabido. This firsthand testimony provides rare insight into the director’s creative intentions and into the cultural and institutional conditions that shaped the film’s production and release.

When viewed within this carefully reconstructed historical context, Celestina emerges as an ambitious and formally complex work shaped by the constraints of its time. The study contributes to a broader reassessment of Mexican cinema and theater by showing how innovative cultural projects can be sidelined by critical debates over artistic fidelity and moral expectations.

The project was supported by the College of Arts and Letters and the Department of Anthropology and Languages at Idaho State University and involved extensive international archival research in Mexico, Spain, and England. Research was conducted at institutions such as Mexico’s National Newspaper Archive, the National Library of Spain, the British Film Institute in London, and ISU’s Eli M. Oboler Library.

The full study is available here in Spanish through Celestinesca.