Héctor José Ochoa Carrillo

Ochoa was a cameraman and documentarian.

At the end of the 1940s he began working as a lighting assistant for film cameramen filming live news at the Estudios de Estrella y Plasencia.

After 1959 he started working as a cameraman for the Noticiero Nacional de Televisión when it was founded in 1961. He filmed many of the important events that occurred since then: declaration of the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution, the attack on Playa Girón, the devastation of Hurricane Flora, etc.

Among his documentaries are El festival de la toronja (1962), El castero (1965), Vanguardias del volante, from the Estudios Cinematográficos de la Televisión Cubana —which competed in the Festival de Leipzig in November 1968—, La verdad del suceso (2014) —awarded by the Caribbean Broadcasting Union and by the Caracol festival of the UNEAC.

As a cameraman he filmed outdoor scenes for the television program Aventuras (Los vikingos, among others).

He filmed many of the important events that occurred since then: declaration of the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution, the events at Playa Girón, the devastation of Hurricane Flora, among others.

He received the Annual Premio Juan Gualberto Gómez for Journalism, in the cinema category, in 2002 and the National Television Prize in 2008.

Filmography

1962: El festival de la toronja (Documentary)

1965: El castero (Documentary)

1968: Vanguardias del volante (Documentary)

2014: La verdad del suceso (Documentary)

Ochoa passed away at the age of 92 on March 15, and days before his death he was awarded the Premio Nacional de Periodismo José Martí 2023 for his lifetime work.