Jesús Díaz

Renowned Cuban filmmaker and writer. Author of ''Los años duros'', Casa de las Américas Prize, 1966. He was the screenwriter of the Cuban film Clandestinos.

Jesús Díaz was an active intellectual in Cuba during the 1960s to 1980s. He was a student of international politics in a course sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1961-1962). He worked in the Latin America section of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with Peoples (1962) and was part of the Philosophy Department at the University of Havana (1963-1971).

He directed the cultural section of Juventud Rebelde (1965-1966) and El Caimán Barbudo during its first period (1966-1967). Based on one of the stories from Los años duros—Casa de las Américas Prize in 1966—he created his theatrical work Unos hombres y otros, which premiered that same year. He was a member of the editorial board of Pensamiento crítico (1967-1971). Los años duros was translated into French and Russian.

He has published some of the most successful stories of the revolutionary period: Canto de amor y de guerra (short story, 1979) and Las iniciales de la tierra (1987), among others. He is the author of the screenplay for the 1973 film Ustedes tienen la palabra. Already at ICAIC, he began collaborating on various screenplays. Much of his literary work has been translated into different languages and published in various countries.

He was director of the Asociación Encuentro de la Cultura Cubana, and professor at the Berlin Film Academy and the School of Literature at Madrid. His novel Las palabras perdidas was a finalist for the Nadal Prize in 1992, and Dime algo sobre Cuba was a finalist for the Rómulo Gallegos Prize in 1999.

As a filmmaker

As a director, he made a dozen documentaries, including 55 hermanos (1978) and En tierra de Sandino (1980), which are counted among the most recognized of that era. He made his feature film debut with Polvo rojo (1982) and later made Lejanía (1985), both deeply imbued with the principles of socialist realism which he would later reject, when he left Cuba in the 1990s.

Works
Novels
Las cuatro fugas de Manuel (2001)
Siberiana (2000)
Dime algo sobre Cuba (1998)
La piel y la máscara (1996)
Las palabras perdidas (1992)
Las iniciales de la tierra (1987)
Los años duros (1966)


Filmography
Barroco (1989). Co-screenwriter
Clandestinos (1987). Screenwriter.
Otra mujer (1986). Screenwriter.
Lejanía (1985). Screenplay and direction.
Polvo rojo (1981). Screenplay and direction.
En tierra de Sandino (1978, documentary).
Cincuenta y cinco hermanos (1978, documentary).
La sexta parte del mundo (1977, documentary). Co-direction.
Reportaje en Lagos (1977, short film).
Benin: una nación africana (1977, short film).
A orillas del Angará (1977, short film).
La tierra de las muchas aguas (1976, short film).
Canción de Puerto Rico (1976, short film).
Mina, viento de libertad (1976). Screenplay.
Un día en el parque (1976, short film).
Cambiar la vida (1975, short film).
Crónica de la victoria (1975, short film made in collaboration with Fernando Pérez Valdés).
Puerto Rico (1975). In collaboration with Fernando Pérez.
Ustedes tienen la palabra (1973). Co-screenwriter.
El extraño caso de Rachel K (1973). Co-screenwriter.
¡Viva la República! (1972). Co-screenwriter.
Filmography