Mexico-born and Chicana identified, Portillo makes films that focus on the search for Latino identity. She has worked in a varied forms, from television documentary to video-film collage. Portillo got her first filmmaking experience at the age of twenty-one when a friend in Hollywood asked her to help out on a documentary. In 1978, after graduating from The San Francisco Art Institute, Portillo used American Film Institute Independent Filmmaker Award monies to create her internationally praised narrative film AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE / DESPUES DEL TERREMOTO, about a Nicaraguan refugee living in San Francisco. Other notable credits include MÜTTER, DOLLARS UND EIN KRIEG - DER KAMPF UM EL SALVADOR (1986), EL DIABLO NUNCA DUERME / THE DEVIL NEVER SLEEPS (1994), SOMETIMES MY FEET GO NUMB (1996), CORPUS (1999) and SEÑORITA EXTRAVIADA (2001).  Nominated for Documentary (Features) 1985: LAS MADRES DE PLAZA DE MAYO - Producer (w. Susana Munoz) 1 nomination