Biography

Jomí García Ascot (24 March 1927 – 14 August 1986) was a poet, essayist, filmmaker, director and educator. Born in Tunisia, he was a Spanish exile who lived in Mexico. José Miguel García Ascot was born on 24 March 1927 in Tunis, Tunisia. The son of a Spanish diplomat, he spent his childhood traveling from Portugal to France to Belgium and Morocco. Fleeing the Spanish Civil War with his parents, he arrived in Mexico in 1939 as an exile. García studied philosophy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where in 1949, he founded the University Film Club and earned a Master's in 1951. He also co-founded La Revista Presencia (Presence Magazine), where he began publishing poetry and film critiques. He taught at UNAM as well as at the Mexico City College and the French Institute of Latin America (IFAL). In 1952, he married María Luisa Elío, another Spanish exile living in Mexico. García collaborated with many publications, including Las Españas (The Spanish), a publication of exilees; the Boletín de la Unión de Intelectuales Españoles/México (Bulletin of the Union of Intellectuals Spanish / Mexico); México en la Cultura (Culture in Mexico); La Gaceta del Fondo de Cultura Economica (The Gazette of the Foundation of Economic Culture); Revista de la Universidad de México (Journal of the University of Mexico); and Prometeo (Prometheus). He was the director of the film magazine Cine Verdad, Telerevista y Cámara.