Miguel Coyula | |
|---|---|
| Born | Miguel Coyula Aquino 31 March 1977 Havana, Cuba |
| Citizenship | Cuba, Spain |
| Occupation(s) | Filmmaker, writer |
| Years active | 1996–present |
Miguel Coyula Aquino (born March 31, 1977, in Havana) is a Cuban filmmaker and writer. Working with a multi-disciplinary approach, his films usually take several years to complete. He has been described by critics as a virtuoso [1] and an innovator. [2] The multi-layered narratives of his films often deal with alienation, they contain graphic depictions of sexuality, and frontal criticism of society and politicians. The controversial nature of his work has resulted in the banning of his work in Cuba, although it has also suffered censorship in Argentina, [3] Belarus, Morocco, and Beirut. [4] The press usually refers to him as the enfant terrible of Cuban Cinema. [5]
At age 17, he made his first short with a VHS camcorder, which led to his admittance to Escuela Internacional de Cine y Television (The International Film and Television School) of San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. In 2001, he received a scholarship at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. While attending the Strasberg Institute, Coyula made his first feature, Red Cockroaches (2003), for less than $2000 over a two-year period. The film was described by Variety as "a triumph of technology in the hands of a visionary with know-how..." [6] The film won over twenty awards in film festivals around the world.
In 2009, Coyula was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship by The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for developing his second feature, the film Memories of Overdevelopment (2010), a follow-up to the Cuban classic Memorias del Subdesarrollo (1968), based on the novel by Cuban writer Edmundo Desnoes. After its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival , the film garnered several awards and honors. The International Film Guide described it as one of the best films Cuba has produced. [7] In 2013 La Pereza Ediciones published his first novel Mar Rojo, Mal Azul. From 2015 to the 2016 he produced the web Series Rafael Alcides and the documentary feature Nobody (2017) which won the Best Documentary award at the Global Film Festival in Santo Domingo. His latest feature Blue Heart (2021), was filmed over ten years in Havana, premiered at the Moscow International Film Festival and won the Hollywood Foreign Press Association award at the Guadalajara International Film Festival . Cineaste described the film as "...the culminating point of Coyula's artistic growth. It stands as his most visceral experience..." [8]
His second novel, La Isla Vertical was published in 2022 by Ediciones Deslinde in Madrid.
Memorias del Desarrollo has won 20 awards, including:
Red Cockroaches has won 23 awards, including:
Memories of Underdevelopment is a 1968 Cuban drama film directed and co-written by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. The story is based on a novel by Edmundo Desnoes entitled Inconsolable Memories. It was Gutiérrez Alea's fifth film, and probably his most famous worldwide.
Edmundo Desnoes was a Cuban writer and author of the novel Memorias del subdesarrollo, a complex story depicting the alienation of a Cuban bourgeois intellectual struggling to adapt to the process of the Revolution staying on the island after his family decides to leave the country. He originally called the work Inconsolable Memories in the first English edition. The book was adapted in 1968 into the seminal Cuban film of the same title Memorias del Subdesarrollo by the director Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, the name by which it is also known in English.
Red Cockroaches is a film released in 2003. This feature film was the debut production of Miguel Coyula and was the result of a two-year effort on a $2,000 budget. Shot entirely using a portable digital camcorder and edited on a home computer, Red Cockroaches is an example of DIY cinema. In its review, Variety called it a "A triumph of technology in the hands of a visionary with know-how..." It is the first of a trilogy which continues with Blue Heart (film).
Clase Z "Tropical"(Class Z Tropical) is a Cuban short film directed by Miguel Coyula. The film is a parody of Hollywood's action blockbusters using the typical trailer of a B-movie. The director deconstructs action melodrama formulas using the structure of a trailer. The movie contains frantic pacing, use of split screens, and dark humor, and the short gained notable popularity in Cuban Film Festivals where Coyula won several awards. The short is 6 minutes long and has been aired on Cuban TV Shows several times since its release in 2000. Coyula described the film a part of a series of experiments in genre the director made before completing the feature length Red Cockroaches.
Jorge Luis Sánchez is a Cuban film director. He was a founder of the Federación Nacional de Cine Clubes de Cuba - the Nacional Federation of Cine Clubs of Cuba.
The Havana Film Festival is a Cuban festival that focuses on the promotion of Latin American filmmakers. It is also known in Spanish as Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana, and in English as International Festival of New Latin American Cinema of Havana. It takes place every year during December in the city of Havana, Cuba.
Emiliano Torres is an Argentine film director, screenplay writer and producer.
Kathia J. Rodriguez Rosario is an actress with a key role in Miguel Coyula's latest film Memorias del Desarrollo.
Pavel Giroud is a Cuban film director based in Madrid, Spain.
The Silly Age is a 2006 Cuban film directed by Pavel Giroud. It was Cuba's submission to the 80th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a nominee.
Chilean cinema refers to all films produced in Chile or made by Chileans. It had its origins at the start of the 20th century with the first Chilean film screening in 1902 and the first Chilean feature film appearing in 1910. The oldest surviving feature is El Húsar de la Muerte (1925), and the last silent film was Patrullas de Avanzada (1931). The Chilean film industry struggled in the late 1940s and in the 1950s, despite some box-office successes such as El Diamante de Maharajá. The 1960s saw the development of the "New Chilean Cinema", with films like Three Sad Tigers (1968), Jackal of Nahueltoro (1969) and Valparaíso mi amor (1969). After the 1973 military coup, film production was low, with many filmmakers working in exile. It increased after the end of the Pinochet regime in 1989, with occasional critical and/or popular successes such as Johnny cien pesos (1993), Historias de Fútbol (1997) and Gringuito (1998).
Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV (Spanish), abbreviated EICTV - - was founded on December 15, 1986, by Colombian journalist and writer Gabriel García Márquez, Cuban theoreticians and filmmakers Julio García Espinosa and Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Argentinean poet and filmmaker Fernando Birri, all four former students of the film school at Cinecittà in Rome, and amongst others, Brazilian filmmakers Orlando Senna and Sergio Muniz. It is located in San Antonio de Los Baños, Artemisa Province, Cuba.
Memories of Overdevelopment is a 2010 Cuban film. Written and directed by Miguel Coyula, the story is based on a novel by Edmundo Desnoes, also the author of the 1968 classic Memories of Underdevelopment. This independent film was produced by David Leitner and features Cuban actor Ron Blair as the lead character. It is the first Cuban dramatic feature film with scenes filmed both in Cuba and the United States. After its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, it garnered several awards and honors. The International Film Guide described it as one of the best films Cuba has produced.
Behavior is a 2014 Cuban drama film directed by Ernesto Daranas. In English writing, the film is usually referred to by the title Behavior. The film premiered in February 2014, and played at the Málaga Film Festival before having its US premieres simultaneously at the Chicago Latino Film Festival and Havana Film Festival New York in April 2014. Behavior was then screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. It was selected as the Cuban entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.
Bye Bye Havana is a 2005 fast-paced stream of consciousness documentary that presents a vibrant portrayal of Cuban life. The film juxtaposes commercialism with vintage anti-communist propaganda and the elementary difficulties that everyday Cubans face. Directed by J. Michael Seyfert the film was shot and edited in Cuba over the course of 2 years. For its enduring images, Carlos Alberto Montaner of Foreign Policy calls Seyfert's film "A colorful and sobering picture of the Cuba that Fidel has left behind".
Luz also known as Luz: The Flower of Evil or Luz, la flor del mal is a 2019 fantasy-western horror film written and directed by Juan Diego Escobar Alzate, featuring Yuri Vargas in the lead role. In October 2019, it was a contender in the Official Fantastic Competition at the SITGES Fantastic Film Festival in Spain. The film gained international recognition as it was part of numerous international film festivals, including the Glasgow Film Festival, Indiecork, Nocturna Madrid, Almería Western Film Festival, Horrible Imaginings, Fantaspoa, Insólito and Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre, among others. It garnered accolades for Best Iberoamerican Film, Best Photography, Best Editing, and Best Acting at various festivals. 'Luz: The Flower of Evil' also clinched the prestigious Silver Skull Award at the Morbido Film Fest in Mexico, marking its Latin American Premiere.
Ernesto Daranas Serrano is a Cuban filmmaker. Daranas' three feature films have had unprecedented success in Cuba and were submitted to the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Daranas is a Latin Grammy nominee for Best Long Form Music Video and a recipient of the King of Spain Award. His filmography includes Sergio & Sergei (2017), starring Ron Perlman, and Behavior, often considered the greatest Cuban film of the 21st century.
The Havana Film Festival New York (HFFNY) is a film festival, based in New York City, that screens cinema from across Latin America with a special focus on Cuba and its film industry. It is a project of The American Friends of the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization with the mission of building cultural bridges between the United States and Cuba through arts projects.
Habaneceres is a Cuban documentary film, directed in 2001 by Luis Leonel León. The documentary received awards at film festivals and was selected by the Cuban Film Press Association, affiliated with the International Federation of Film Press (FIPRESCI), as the best film of 2001 in its genre.
Blue Heart is a 2021 independent sci-fi Cuban film directed, written and produced by Miguel Coyula, starring Lynn Cruz, Carlos Gronlier and Héctor Noas. The film premiered at the 2021 Moscow International Film Festival. It has played at film festivals like BAFICI Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema, and the Guadalajara International Film Festival, among others.
