Narcisa de Leon

Narcisa Buencamino vda. de León (October 29, 1877 – February 6, 1966) was a Filipino film producer and businesswoman.

Clad daily in the rural dress of the camisón, saya and chinelas,

In the 1930s was the growth of Philippine cinema, and the new production studios started by her. In the nearby Hacienda Hemady, the Sampaguita Pictures Studio set up shop, while along Justice Pedro Tiangco Tuazon Boulevard in Cubao the LVN Pictures Studio opened in 1936. The studio was named using the initials of the founding families of De Leon, Villonco and Navoa, and continued to operate up to 2005. Now what is left of this historic film studio is a commemorative fountain, dedicated to her as the LVN studio's co-founder and chairperson; it has been transferred to the Quezon Memorial Circle’s Quezon City Experience Museum in 2017.

Early life

She was born Narcisa Buencamino in San Miguel, Bulacan at October 29, 1877. Her mother was Atanacia Lim y Lim, the daughter Chinese merchants; her father, Justo Buencamino y Sio-jo, was a Philippine Chinese poet who died when she was five. She was forced to stop schooling after the fourth grade to work with her mother in managing rice lands.

Apart from de Leon, the two other principal founding partners of LVN Pictures were Carmen Villonco y Suárez and Eleuterio Novoa Sr.

LVN broke into the Philippine film industry with the successful release of its first feature, Carlos Vander Tolosa's musical Giliw Ko, released in 1939. She was elected president of LVN Pictures in 1940;

However, LVN Pictures was forced to close shop upon the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in December 1941. Del Sol would be but the first of many Filipino actors whom de Leon would "discover" and groom for stardom. Among the other discoveries of de Leon and LVN Pictures were Charito Solis, Nida Blanca, Luz Valdez, and Mario Montenegro;