| Mimí Derba | |
| Birth Name: | María Herminia Pérez de León |
| Birth Date: | 9 October 1893 |
| Birth Place: | Mexico City, Mexico |
| Death Place: | Mexico City, Mexico |
| Parents: | Francisco Pérez de León and Jacoba Avendaño |
| Occupation: | Actress, film producer, film director, screenwriter |
María Herminia Pérez de León, better known as Mimí Derba (9 October 1893 - 14 July 1953) was a Mexican actress, screenwriter, and film director, considered the first female film director in Mexico.[1]
At the age of seventeen in Derba sang for the Mexican theater; she successfully transitioned from singing to acting in silent cinema.[2] [3]
When Derba wasn't acting or directing films, she had a very active political life. She founded the first actors' union to foster the art of live theatre by negotiating wages, improving working conditions, and adding benefits like health and pension plans. Due starting this union, Derba lost film jobs.[4]
During the silent film era, Derba founded Azteca films with Enrique Rosas and produced five films in 1917. En defensa Propia was the first film made by Azteca films.[5] Azteca films, however, faced the crisis of the Spanish pandemic in 1918, and as a result, her sixth film, Chapultepec was never finished. After an unsuccessful attempt to market Azteca's films abroad, she closed the company and retired from production. She continued to act and appeared in the film, Santa, one of Mexico's first sound film in 1931.”[6] Films by Azteca Films include En Defensa Propia (1917), En la sombra (1917), Alma de sacrificio (1917), La soñadora (1917),La Tigresa (1917), and Chapultepec (1917).
While Mimí Derba owned Azteca films, she directed and produced La tigresa, about Eva, a budding actress willing to do anything to be the main character in a cruel and painful romance. She plots to convince a young woman to fall in love with the humble craftsman Bruno, but he ends up falling in love with Eva instead. Bruno later goes insane and admits himself into a madhouse where he is tormented with images of a tigress with Eva's face, attacking her in her delusions.[7]
En Defensa Propia is Mimí Derba's second film and first screenplay for Azteca films. The story is about orphan Enriqueta, who must work hard for a living. She finds a job with the widower Julio Mancera, her young daughter. Julio and Enriqueta fall in love and get married. However, soon after their wedding, Julio's cousin returns from Europe and conspires to drive a wedge between the couple so they will break up. The cousin's plan almost works until they all end up at the same party one night, where she finds Julio, Enriqueta, and the other guests in a compromising situation.[8]