She died peacefully, surrounded by her three sons and a younger sister, according to a friend.
Portillo was an unconventional, artful talent who combined filmmaking and activism.
I live in San Francisco, so theres a certain activism that goes on here.
Filmmaker Lourdes PortilloCourtesy of Antonio Scarlata
And I, of course, tried to help in any way that I could.
So, it all began in that form a form of protest.
And being in San Francisco, youre kind of protected by the population here, at that time.
And so [it] enabled me to go forward.
She added, I have a variety of missions.
I live in the United States, I experienced racism in a very ugly way.
I dont like that, its awful.
So, I want to do something about it.
I feel that cinema is a great tool.
Its a wonderful tool because it can be served as almost anything as a documentary, as a feature.
Im passionate about art.
I like making films that kind of break barriers, that express things that havent been expressed.
