Gustavo Alatriste

Gustavo Alatriste Rodríguez August 8th 1922 July 22 2006 was a Mexican director producer exhibitor and entrepreneur At the age of 17 he enrolled in the Escuela Bancaria y Comercial to study Accounting but left after only six months He married Ariadne Welter an actress who appeared in Ensayo de un crimen 1955 a film directed by the Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel with whom Alatriste formed a strong friendship A successful furniture businessman Alatriste later ventured into the film industry as a producer with Viridiana Buñuel 1961 a story set in an old and remote estate filled with attractions and romantic entanglements involving a novice Silvia Pinal then Alatristes second wife her uncle Don Jaime Fernando Rey her cousin Jorge Paco Rabal the maid Ramona Margarita Lozano and a group of beggars The film was awarded the Palme dOr at the Cannes Film Festival where Alatriste received the prize from André Malraux then Frances Minister of Culture and a member of the French Resistance during World War II