Daniel DÃaz Torres
Daniel Díaz Torres (born 31 December 1948 in Havana, † September 16, 2013 ) was a Cuban film director. He belonged since the 1980s the most important Cuban filmmakers. His film gesellschaftssatirischer Alicia en el pueblo de Maravillas ( Alice in the place of miracles ) made him known internationally.
Life and work
Daniel Díaz Torres was born in Havana in 1948. By its completion in 1970 he studied political science at the University of Havana. In 1968 he started at the information center of the Cuban Film Institute ( ICAIC ) to work, where he wrote articles about the Cuban cinema and film reviews. In 1971 Díaz Torres worked as an assistant director. At the same time he finished university courses on film history and film technology and managed in different countries theater workshops. From 1975 turned Díaz Torres documentaries and since then until 1981 deputy in Santiago Álvarez Responsible for the Cuban newsreel of ICAIC.
His first feature film turned Daniel Díaz Torres 1984 Jíbaro from a screenplay by Norberto Fuentes. Was released in 1986, the retro comedy Otra mujer, who played in the 1970s. The screenplay for this film wrote Jesús Díaz, Raúl Pérez Ureta was cameraman, with whom he still turned three more feature films later.
With the gesellschaftssatirischen movie Alicia en el pueblo de Maravillas, which premiered at the Berlinale in 1991 and awarded the Peace Prize, he provided for national and international attention. In Cuba itself, the film was temporarily banned, even though he had been approved in the late 1980s by the authorities of the State Film Institute during production. 1991, shortly after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the beginning of the so-called Special Period, the ideological stance was, however, secured tightly. The film tells the absurd adventures of an idealistic young woman in a strange place, whose involuntary residents are harassed by an authoritarian sanatorium director, in which viewers could undoubtedly recognize traits of Máximo Lider Fidel Castro. Published two days after the film's release thugs of the " Rapid Reaction Force " in the cinema and threatened those viewers who laughed. The film was discontinued. As a result, the Film Institute was separated from the Ministry of Culture and reports directly to the Communist Party.
It was followed by the bank robbery comedy Quiéreme y verás ... ( 1994), which scored the top prize at the International Film Festival of Fribourg. The co-produced with German and Spanish partners comedy Tropic Anita ( Small Tropicana ) received at the Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana the large jury award and other awards at the Festivals of Innsbruck ( IFFI ) and Rotterdam ( IFFR ).
His last film lying on Cuban (La película de Ana ) won at the Film Festival in Havana in December 2012, three awards, including the best for the script, the Díaz Torres had written together with Eduardo del Llano. Shortly thereafter, the Austro- Cuban co-production by the Association of Cuban film critic was chosen as the best film of the year.
Díaz Torres was one of the founders of the International Academy of Film and Television ( EICTV ) in San Antonio de los Baños, where he headed the department as a lecturer Director.
Daniel Díaz Torres died on September 16, 2013 from cancer.