# Francisco Eduardo  Padrón  Nodarse

**Date of birth:** November 27, 1958

**Categories:** Arts, literature, poet, narrator, essayist, Society

Frank Padrón is a poet, narrator, essayist, art critic and audiovisual communicator. He specializes in Ibero-American cinema, a specialty he has taught at the International School of Film and TV in San Antonio de los Baños. Since its founding, he has hosted and written for the television program De nuestra América.

Padrón is one of the most versatile figures in Cuban culture, as he has worked indistinctly in literary criticism, film criticism and criticism of the performing arts in general, narrative, essay, poetry and journalism. He has also worked as a cultural promoter and in defense of the rights of the LGBTI community in Cuba.

He graduated as a Bachelor of Philology from the University of Havana in 1986. He is currently preparing a doctorate in Latin American cinema.

He has been a member, since 1987, of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba. Since 1990 he has been a member of the Union of Journalists of Cuba. He is a founding member of the Cuban Association of Film Press, affiliated with the International Federation of Film Press (FIPRESCI).

For the past 30 years he has collaborated systematically with the country's periodical and specialized press, among whose magazines stand out Cine Cubano, Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, Revolución y Cultura and Temas.

He is founder of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in which he has worked as a collaborator on its journal and catalog, especially through his column "La Luneta Indiscreta," from the Festival Journal. He has been a presenter, juror, moderator of roundtables and lectures.

He has specialized in Ibero-American cinema and has had several spaces in the written press, radio and television dedicated to the seventh art. Since its founding in 1989, he has hosted and written for the weekly program of Cuban Television: De Nuestra América.

He is in charge of cultural sections in programs on CMBF Radio Musical Nacional and Radio Ciudad de La Habana. As a journalist, Padrón has collaborated with various publications in Cuba and abroad such as Granma, Trabajadores, Juventud Rebelde, La Jiribilla, El Caimán Barbudo, etc. These works mostly address cultural topics, either as criticism of the performing arts, literature, audiovisual media or as promotion and criticism of specific events.

He is also a major promoter of Brazilian culture in Cuba, as eloquently demonstrated by his "Brasil" spaces, a weekly film club at the Infanta multiplex cinema that he shares with his colleague Tony Mazón, and the television program of the same name that broadcasts Cuban summer TV programming on the Educational Channel about the rich music of the southern giant. In 2008, the Brazilian publishing house Nova Fronteira, of Biscoito Fino, invited him, at the suggestion of the famous singer María Bethania, to write in the book Cuba Omara/Bahía Bethania about the relations between both countries, being the only author representing his country in that text.

In addition to this work, Padrón hosted for 10 years a film debate space called Diferente and which has been hosted in several of the cinemas of the ICAIC's Project 23, mainly in cinema 23 and 12. In this space, works from any country related to sexual diversity are exhibited. Padrón's comments on several of these films make up the second part of his book Diferente. Cine y diversidad sexual. For this work, Cenesex honored him two years ago with its annual award, given to people and institutions that collaborate with its cause.

He has taught for several years at the International School of Film and Television in San Antonio de los Baños.

He has conducted workshops and lectures on Latin American cinema in Cuba, Peru, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.

Work as a Juror
He has participated as a juror in contests, festivals and national and international events on cinema, theater, carnival, television, literature and general culture.

His Work
Author of an interesting, documented and enriching reflective work on cinema, which he has not only published in books, but has also made known through mass media. Many of these books have been awarded within and outside Cuba, in which cinema occupies a notable role.

He also cultivates poetry and short stories, with texts that successfully address various problems of the contemporary world.

In 2017 he published a new book, titled El cocinero, el sommelier, el ladrón y su(s) amante(s), with the Oriente publishing house, which more than adequately demonstrates the enjoyment with which this text was "prepared," which among its "ingredients" includes literature, visual arts, theater, music[1]. He has published the essays:

Más allá de la linterna
Más allá de la linterna (Editorial Oriente, 2000)
La profesión maldita (Editorial Oriente, 2005)
Conversación en la luz (2006)
Sinfonía inconclusa para cine cubano (Editorial Oriente, 2008)
Diferente. Cine y diversidad sexual (Ediciones ICAIC, 2014)
The story collections:
Eros-iones (Ediciones Unión, 2001)
Las celadas de Narciso (Ediciones Extramuros, 2006)
Los latidos del espejo, (Ediciones Unión, 2008)
El secreto demonio de los ángeles (Letras Cubanas, 2013)
De la letra a la esencia: Mirta Aguirre y el barroco literario (2018)
Awards and Recognition
His work has been awarded with different prizes and recognitions for his creative work:

March 13 Award (1986 and 1987)
Mirta Aguirre Literary Criticism Award (1991)
José Manuel Valdés Rodríguez Film Criticism and Research Award, from UNEAC (1996 and 2002)
Caracol Awards (1996 and 2002)
Farraluque Erotic Literature Award (poetry award, 1997) and story mention (2003)
Cultural Journalism Award (1998)
Razón de ser Award (2004) from the Alejo Carpentier Foundation for cultural projects, for Hacia una teoría del cine "nuestramericano",
Bolívar-Martí Thought Scholarship, sponsored by the Ministries of Culture of Venezuela and Cuba (2007)
In October 2015 he was awarded the Distinction for National Culture granted by the Ministry of Culture of Cuba.
Uneac Award 2016 in essay
National Award for Film Criticism and Research. 2018
Uneac Award 2019 in the essay category.
José Antonio Fernández de Castro Cultural Journalism Award 2019, instituted by the Ministry of Culture