Cuba – Page 7

Alberto

After almost 15 years, Alberto decides to return to Cuba and save ties with his family. When he arrives he discovers a family secret.

Spain 2012. A family of Cuban dissidents is trapped in a unfortunate contest of political circumstances. Expelled by their government and then abandoned to their fate by the country that accepted them as refugees. They have been living for eight long months in a public square in Madrid. In the past, they were dependent upon the Cuban goverment that shaped them through both its achievements and failures.Now, they must face a rude awakening of a capitalist system that they had once dreamed of.

Orlando Mora Cabrera

Cuban filmmaker, graduated in Audiovisual Communication from the University of Arts, ISA. He studied the special program Documentary Video Production in Havana, organized by New York University – TISCH School of the Arts. He has worked in different areas of the film industry, with emphasis on directing, scriptwriting and editing of fiction and documentary projects. His work has been selected for festivals such as Guadalajara FICG, Moscow MIFF, Melbourne MIFF, DOC NYC, Trinidad and Tobago TTFF, among others. He is currently studying Fiction Directing at the International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños (EICTV).

Alán González Hernandez

Cuban screenwriter, director and cinematographer. Co-founder and member of the VICEVERSA collective for audiovisual script writing and consulting with particular experience in the Caribbean area. His short films as screenwriter or director have been exhibited and awarded in several international festivals. He is currently in post-production of his directorial debut, La mujer salvaje, and his short film Azul Pandora.

Heidi Hassan

Cuban-Swiss artist currently based in Spain. Filmmaker, mixed media artist, and cinematographer. In 2002, Hassan graduated in cinematography from the prestigious International Film School of San Antonio de Los Baños, Cuba (EICTV), and completed her training with a diploma in film directing at the Haute Ecole d’art et design de Genève in 2008.

In 2019 her latest film, “In a Whisper” won more than 12 awards around the world including Best Feature-Length at the IDFA-Amsterdam. Her previous works have been awarded in international festivals as diverse as the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema (Cuba), the Malaga Film Festival (Spain), the Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival (Israel), the New York HFF (USA), the Cali International Film Festival, (Colombia) among others.

In her 20 years of experience as a cinematographer, she has used both celluloid and digital to shoot projects that have taken her around the world. Her work has been exhibited at the Centre de la Photographie de Genève, Switzerland, in galleries in Cuba, Canada, and recently in Santo Domingo and the United States. She is now preparing a personal exhibition for next year in Spain.

Alejandro Alonso Estrella

Alejandro ALONSO ESTRELLA (1987, Cuba) Graduated in Documentary Filmmaking at the International School of Cinema and TV in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. His short film The Farewell (2014) had its world premiere at IDFA. Duel (2016) was premiered at Cinema du Réel; it won best short film in Mar del Plata Film Festival and Festival of Poppoli. His first feature The Project (2017) premiered at Visions du Réel and was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize at DOK Leipzig. His medium-length film Terranova (2020) co-directed with Alejandro Pérez, won the Ammodo Tiger Short Award at the Rotterdam Film Festival. Abyssal (2021), had its premiere at Visions du Réel, won the Golden Dove Dok Leipzig and received the JHF Humanities Institute Award in Full Frame. In 2021 he was selected as a Resident of the Spanish Film Academy to work on the writing of The Star.

Violena Ampudia

Cuban filmmaker (1993)

Graduated from the International Film and TV School of San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba (EICTV) in 2020 , and from DocNomads (Portugal – Hungary – Belgium) with a full scholarship in 2022. Her films explore interpersonal relationships, encounters, and growth processes, and have been selected in several festivals such as Jihlava IDFF, Cinélatino Rencontres de Toulouse, Curta Kinoforum São Paulo ISSF, Potiers IDFF & Doc Buenos Aires.

Jose Luis Aparicio Ferrera

José Luis Aparicio Ferrera (Cuba, 1994), independent filmmaker, critic and curator. He has directed short fiction and documentary films such as Tundra (2021), Sueños al pairo (2020) and El Secadero (2019). His films have screened at festivals such as Sundance, Locarno, Miami, BAFICI, Guanajuato, Curta Cinema and Raindance. He has received awards at Fantaspoa, Pendance, New Jersey, New York City Independent, Seattle Latino, etc. As a critic and curator he created the Cine Cubano en Cuarentena (CCC) initiative, a collaborative effort aimed at the preservation, research and exhibition of the Cuban film legacy. For the Hannah Arendt Institute for Artivism (INSTAR) he curated the exhibition Land without images, the largest retrospective of alternative Cuban cinema to date, as part of the documenta fifteen in Kassel. He was invited to the Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors program and was awarded one of the 2022 Prince Claus Seed Awards. He is currently working as director of the INSTAR Film Festival and is developing his first feature film, El mar, in an artistic residency granted by the Spanish Film Academy.