Claudio Fenner-López

Professor Emeritus

Biography

Claudio Fenner-López initially "discovered" the arts via studies in Architecture, UC Berkeley, and after Korean War service, he continued on to a BA in Theatre Arts and MA in Film and Television at UCLA. Prior to joining UCSD in 1973, Fenner-López was writer-producer-director of films for the Franciscan Communications Center, Los Angeles, designing productions for, among others, the Campaign for Human Development. These mini-documentaries included: Portraits of the Poor, Womanhood, Images, and others, all of which received nationwide release. In 1969-70, he worked on an experimental project under a Ford Foundation grant, as Series Producer -- and occasional director and writer -- in more than 175 programs for Los Angeles Public Broadcasting Station (KCET-TV). Most of the programs were done for the "AHORA!" series, essentially directed to the Mexican-American (Chicano) audience. The programs ranged through art and culture, socio-economic, health, education issues, group identity and occasional bilingual programming. Fenner-López coordinated the Filmmakers Seminar for Arte Picante, 1976, part of the Chicano Art Festival presented at Mandeville Center for the Arts. In the late 1970's, he wrote, produced and directed Toltecas in Aztlan, a documentary study of La Raza Cultural Center. In the 1980's he co-produced A Community of Action, a one hour documentary on the local (San Diego) Chicano community. And in the same period, he wrote-produced and directed The Promise of America, a one hour "special" documentary on Immigration and the Undocumented Worker, for the CBS affiliate stations. In the early 1990's, Fenner-López co-wrote (with John Stewart, Muir College Provost and Krenek authority), produced and directed a one hour documentary on Ernst Krenek, the prolific and influential composer specializing in the atonal scale and the twelve-tone-technique.