During a press conference in 2018, after receiving the Golden Globe for Best Director in his movie The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro was asked how he was able to see the dark side of human nature and at the same time be a cheerful and loving person. “Because I am Mexican”, he replied. “No one loves life more than we do, because we are so conscious about death”.
With his debut film, Cronos (1993), Del Toro showed that there was much more in Mexico than a fatalistic gaze in films and he opened a window to the stories of endearing monsters and fantastic worlds that have marked his career. The Devil’s Backbone (2001), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) and Hellboy (2004), are just a few of the dozens of films that have established him as a reference of current cinema.
But in addition to his many awards, “Totoro-san” —the eternal child who once made a pact with his monsters to redeem them— has also become one of the most beloved Mexicans. A titan willing to support all kinds of causes: from granting scholarships, to helping the children of the Mexican Mathematics Society team to attend the Mathematical Olympiad in South Africa and winning.He is convinced that “every time we show Mexican exports, things like science, art and culture, it generates an important discourse in the world and helps us remember where we are from”.[ref id="54"]
