Today Ignacio F. Iquino would have turned 100 years old unless we accept the other data given for his birth, 25 October.
The Catalan Film Institute has organised a retrospective of his work this month as well as a symposium attended by, among others, Antonio Isasi, who started out as an editor for Iquino, the actress-cum-director Mireia Ros, the filmmaker and former Iquino alumnus Josep María Forn, Iquino specialist Ángel Comas and the filmmaker’s assistant in the 60s, José Ulloa. This was preceded by the screening of a TV documentary on Iquino, including interviews with several characters linked to him and with the man himself. I had difficulty following Iquino’s wheezy speech, but this did not extend to several members of the audience, who laughed on cue. Among those in the documentary were Fernando Fernán-Gómez and the former child actor Pepe Moratalla, who actually called Iquino a good person! Maybe he was different when it came to children.
The Film Institute also published a leaflet containing a press article the aforementioned Forn wrote as an obituary at the time of Iquino’s death, thanking him for keeping the Catalan film industry alive.
Cartoon of Iquino in the opening titles of his film Dos pillos y pico (1981)
Some people have referred to spectacles such as he wore as “Iquino glasses”.
Iquino’s credit in the same film