• Submitted by: admin
• Arts and Culture
• Cinema
• 03 / 04 / 2007

The winners formed part of a group of 13 nominees, among whom were directors, actors, an editor and a costume designer, all who have figured in many Cuban films in the past decades.

Instituted in 2003, the National Film Award was given for the first time to Alfredo Guevara as the founder of the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC) and its president for almost 40 years, and for his participation in the rise of the new Latin American Film Movement.

Julio García Espinosa who directed "El joven rebelde" (The Young Rebel) and Juan Quinquín en Pueblo Mocho (known in English as The Adventures of Juan Quinquín), who has been a major figure in Cuban cinematography for several decades, received the award in 2004, and Humberto Solás ("Lucía") obtained it in 2005. Last year the winner was Enrique Pineda Barnet for "La Bella del Alhambra" (The Beautiful Woman from Alhambra).

The jury was presided over by the director Manuel Pérez Paredes, and included playwright Abelardo Estorino, photographer Livio Delgado, actor Enrique Molina, producer Mario Rivas, film critic Joel del Río, and Grisell González. The voting was unanimous.

Jury Findings:

Daysi Granados:

Her extensive film career has made her an unforgettable actress in the history of Cuban film. Her talent - shown repeatedly over more than four decades - and her outstanding emblematic presence enriching Latin American and Cuban cinema, have made her indispensable to Cuban culture.

Fernando Pérez:

Respected as one of the most important Cuban filmmakers of the last twenty years, Fernando Pérez first worked with documentaries ("Omara", "Camilo", ICAIC Latin American Newscast) before his feature film début with the highly praised and historic "Clandestinos". He afterwards directed and co-wrote a series of public successes comprising "Hello Hemingway", "Madagascar", "La vida es silbar" (Life is to Whistle) and "Suite Havana". To celebrate ICAICs anniversary his more recent film "Madrigal" will be premiered in March - a film that represents a new challenge in the cinematography that with Fernando Pérez is always risky, human and highly artistic, and who was selected by the critics as the most prominent filmmaker of the nineties.

Nelson Rodriguez:

His creative contribution to our film industry surpasses forty years of performance as a film editor. An outstanding collaborator in excellent movies and with various Latin-American and Cuban film classics, his work does not at times reach the visibility and recognition that he is owed, but his name will stand in the firmament of Cuban cinematography. He not only stands out as an indispensable asset to the film industry, but also works in a less well-known, but no less significant vocation as a prominent teacher of young producers and editors in Cuban and Latin American cinema.

Other nominees to the National Film Awards for 2007 were: Sergio Corrieri, Octavio Cortázar, Manuel Herrera, José Massip, María Elena Molinet, Juan Padrón, Rogelio Paris, Raúl Pérez Ureta, Juan Carlos Tabío and Savior Word.

The awards will be delivered within the framework of activities celebrating the Cuban Film Institutes 48th anniversary in March.

Source: Cubarte