Remembering Ignacio Iquino

Ignacio Farrés Iquino was born on Ocotber 25, 1910 in Valls, Catalonia, Spain.Over his long, prolific career as a film director, Ignacio F. Iquino worked in a variety of low-budget genres, ranging from Italian/Spanish Westerns to softcore exploitation. Iquino was the son of actress Teresea Iquino and film composer Ramón Ferrés (who would later score many of his son's films). He studied painting and music in Barcelona and later found work as a cartoonist, photographer, and draftsman for several Spanish periodicals. After a brief period in Paris, Iquino returned to Barcelona and opened a photography studio. In 1933, he started directing short films and made his feature debut a year later with “Al Margen de la Ley”(“Out of the Law”) (1935); the film had been completed in 1934, but as it was based on actual events, censorship problems delayed its release and the original title, “El Crimen del Expreso de Andalucía”, had to be changed. Following the Spanish Civil War, Iquino teamed with producer Aureliano Campa to make a string of popular comedies. In 1943, Iquino helped launch Emisora Films and through this company directed films through the end of the decade. In 1949, Iquino founded an independent film production company, I.F.I. España S.A. (IFISA). IFISA soon began churning out low-budget films, primarily thrillers and comedies, many of which were directed by Iquino himself while he continued to manage a studio and distribution company. During the '60s, Iquino expanded into low-budget Westerns, and by the late '70s, he had come to specialize in softcore exploitation films. Throughout his career, Iquino used the pseudonyms Steve McCohy and Steve McCoy. He has occasionally been identified as John Wood, but this alias was used by Spanish director Juan Bosch. Iquino has also been mistakenly identified as Italian director Nick Nostro. Iquino has often been referred to as the Spanish Roger Corman. Ignacio was married to screenwriter Juliana San José de la Fuente (aka Jackie Kelly) [1928-2000]. Iquino was involved in 12 Euro-western as either film editor, screenwriter, director or producer. Some of his better known titles are “El Puro” (1969) with Robert Woods, “Stagecoach of the Condemned” (1970) with Richard Harrison, “The Fabulous Trinity” and “The Fat Brothers of Trinity” with Chris Huerta, Ricardo Palacios and Tito Garcia. Iquino died on April 29, 1994 in Barcelona, Spain. Today we celebrate what would have been Ignacio Iquino’s 100th birthday. [biography written by Sandra Brennan]


A recent biography of Iquino has been released “Ignacio F. Iquino, hombre de cine” by Angel Comas in 2003.