Gloria Victoria Rolando Casamayor

She studied at the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory of Music. In 1976, after earning her degree in Art History from the University of La Habana, she began working at ICAIC.

This would be the starting point for Gloria Rolando's subsequent definition as a filmmaker. There she received postgraduate courses that strengthened her interest in Caribbean themes.

From her experience on film shoots, she became an assistant director and collaborator of notable filmmakers such as Santiago Álvarez, Bernabé Hernández, Santiago Villatuerte, Rogelio París and Enrique Colina, among others, in documentaries; and in fiction she collaborated with Pastor Vega (Habanera), Sergio Giral (Maluala) and Manuel Herrera (No hay sábado sin sol).

Her documentary works highlight the importance of Black cultures in Cuban society. It is from this perspective that she made Oggún: el eterno presente in 1991. From this experience begins for Gloria Rolando a journey through different universities in the United States, where her work would be received, not without contradictions, but with respect. It would also be for her, as a Black woman and as an artist, the apprehension of the African American environment, the knowledge of its specificities, and of its convergences and divergences.

In New Jersey would begin the contacts that throughout the nineties would allow her to take the voice of Cuba to Oregon, Florida, Washington, Boston, Atlanta, New Orleans and New York, among other cities and academic spheres. This documentary would also provide her with an encounter with the Caribbean environment, in Jamaica and Barbados, thanks to her participation of Oggún... in television festivals, such as the 1993 one in Barbados.

After 6 years of research, in 2010, she presents the first chapter of 1912, Voces para un silencio, the overall title for the project of three documentals dedicated to the history of the Party of Independent People of Color (PIC).

This documentary constitutes an introduction to the controversial theme of the struggle and resistance of Afro-Cubans, the trajectory of the Black movement in Cuba from the colonial era, the struggles for independence, and the situation of Cuban Blacks, once the Island of Cuba achieved its independence in 1902.

Gloria Rolando is one of the most active filmmakers in the field of documentary cinema in Cuba, with a body of work totally anchored in the traditions of Cuban Black communities. Her powerful and well-thought-out discourse corresponds perfectly with the dignity of the characters she films.

Filmography
Oggún un eterno presente. Documentary. 1991. 57 min. Dedicated to the life and work of Lázaro Ross, son of Oggún. One of the most beautiful voices of the Afro-Cuban tradition. Videoamérica S.A. Editing Prize from the Cuba Video Festival.
Los hijos de Baraguá. Documentary. 1995. 53 min. On the history of the town of Baraguá, in the province of Ciego de Ávila, where we still find traces of the immigration of the West Indies to the Island of Cuba. Caribbean Images.
Los ojos del arcoíris. (The eyes of the rainbow). Documentary. 1997. 45 min. About the Afro-American activist Assatta Shakur, leader of the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army.
El alacrán. (The scorpion). Documentary. 2000. 20 min. On the history of the Havana carnival parade whose melodies have traveled the world. Special Oscar Valdés Prize at the Cuba Video Festival.
Las raíces de mi corazón. (The roots of my heart). Documentary. 2001. 57 min. Through a family story, Mercedes, the protagonist, learns of the existence of the Party of Independent People of Color and the 1912 massacre. First Mention in the 2001 Ibero-American Ethics Competition Elena Gil. Vitral Prize in the National Video Movement of Cuba.
Los marqueses de Atarés. Documentary. 2002. 50 min. Like the parade El alacrán, Los marqueses de Atarés, (in El Cerro) are symbols of Cuban Carnival since the 1930s: rumba dancers, santeros and abakuás came together from then on to distinguish their neighborhood with dances and melodies that reach the present.
Nosotros y el jazz. (The jazz in us). Documentary. 2004. 45 min. It is the story of a group of Afro-Cubans who since the 1940s and 1950s have maintained a friendship and taste for jazz. This documentary was part of the first traveling exhibition of Caribbean Cinema.
Pasajes del corazón y la memoria. (Cherished island memories) Documentary. 2007. 38 min. At the 30th edition of the Festival of New Latin American Cinema, the National Council of Houses of Culture awarded the "Sara Gómez" Prize for the rescue of the values of popular culture in cinema and the reflection of identity in all its complexity and diversity. It is the story of the immigration of families from the Cayman Islands to the former Isle of Pines, now Isle of Youth.
1912, Voces para un silencio. Documentary. Series in 3 chapters (2003–2013) It narrates through the voices of historians, witnesses, photographs and original documents from the era the fascinating and painful history of the Party of Independent People of Color. A silenced page, forgotten, mistreated since 1908, from the very beginning of the Party's founding. These voices woven together since 2003 will allow in the future to definitively break the silence on the only political party that Black and mixed-race people had in Cuba. Chapter 2 received the "Walterio Carbonell" award given by the Cofradía de la Negritud. (Organization based in La Habana).
Reembarque. Documentary. 2014. The documentary takes its name from the period in which Haitians suffered the repatriation process. They were brought as cheap labor for the sugar industry. All these emigrants were manipulated and brought as merchandise.
Diálogo con mi abuela. 2016. It addresses her own family history based on the relationship she had with her grandmother Inocencia; a testimony told in the first person that brings us closer to the daily life of Afro-descendant Cuban women.

Poster for the premiere of the Doc. 1912, Voces para un silencio

Awards and Recognition

"Gitana Tropical" Distinction. Year 2000. Awarded by the Provincial Direction of Culture of the City of La Habana.
"Artistic Merit" Diploma. Year 2000. Awarded by the Republic of Cuba, Ministry of Culture and the Minister of Higher Education.
Federico Fellini Medal. Year 2010. Awarded by Unesco.
Sara Gómez Prize for the documentary "Pasajes del corazon y la memoria" (2007). Year 2010. Awarded by the National Council of Houses of Culture (La Habana) at the 30 International Festival of New Latin American Cinema.
Annual "Walterio Carbonell" Prize, for the series "1912, Voces para un silencio". Year 2012. Awarded by the Cofradía de la Negritud.
Caracol Prize of the UNEAC in the Direction Specialty for the series "1912, Voces para un silencio". Year 2013.

Memberships
Member, Network of Afro-Latin and Afro-Caribbean Women.
Global Board Member of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College, Michigan, USA
Her works have been presented in more than 75 universities in the United States in Chair positions that conduct studies on the Caribbean and the African Diaspora.