Emilio was a larger than life character who embodied all the virtues and talents of a real creative artist. He had won the Palm D'Or in Cannes for his film Maria Candelaria immediately after the war and had been a huge celebrity long before I met him. I was privileged to have known him closely as a real friend and mentor and to have heard his amazing story first-hand. I had the managerial habit instilled in me in New York to make notes, so every night I wrote the stories of Emilio relentlessly on bits and pieces of paper. I thought of myself as a budding author with one published novel under my belt, and I thought that I might one day need these notes as references for an article or a novel.