José Manuel Valdés Rodríguez

He was a professor at the Academy of Dramatic Arts of the Escuela Libre de La Habana. He served as a professor in the Summer School of the Universidad de La Habana. He also taught at the Escuela de Periodismo, Manuel Márquez Sterling. He directed the Department of Cinematography of the Universidad de La Habana and collaborated in the creation of the Film Section of the Universidad de Oriente. He was Cuba's Delegate to the first meeting for the teaching of journalism, held by UNESCO in Paris.

He began writing in 1927 in the newspapers and magazines of that time, including Revista de Avance, Carteles, Social, América Libre and Hatuey.

Theater and film critic for Revista de La Habana (1929). Social columnist for the newspaper El Mundo and literary critic for its Sunday magazine. He worked at Social and was a correspondent in Latin America for the experimental magazine Cinema from Hollywood. (1931-1933). He later joined the staff of Ahora (1933-1935), the magazine Selecta (1937), of which he was head of information, and returned to El Mundo starting in 1939. Professor at the Universidad de la Habana. Winner of numerous journalism and cultural awards. He is considered the initiator of cinematographic culture in Latin America.

He completed primary education and high school at the Colegio de Belén.

He was a sugarcane farmer, real estate broker and cinema manager. He collaborated in Revista de Avance, Carteles, Social, América Libre, Revista de La Habana, El Mundo.

He was a member and secretary of the second Liga Antimperialista, in whose representation he traveled to the Soviet Union. He was part of the International Committee for the defense of Eisenstein's film: ¡Que viva México!

He was associate director and correspondent for the magazine Experimental Cinema, founder of the magazine Masas and editor-in-chief of Selecta.

In 1938, he obtained the award from the Direction of Culture of the Ministry of Education in reporting for his work on John. J. Moran and first mention among essays for his Bojeo y penetración de Contrabando.

He was a professor at the Academy of Dramatic Arts of the Escuela Libre de La Habana, served as a professor in the Summer School of the Universidad de La Habana and taught at the Escuela de Periodismo Manuel Márquez Sterling.

He won the journalism award Enrique José Varona. From 1949 he directed the Department of Cinematography of the Universidad de La Habana and collaborated in the creation of the Art Film section of the Universidad de Oriente.

He was a delegate to the First Meeting for the Teaching of Journalism, held by UNESCO in Paris; he presided over the Association of Theater and Film Critics and was a founding member of the Penn Club de Cuba.

He attended film festivals in Mar del Plata, Venice, Cannes, Karlovy-Vary and Moscow. He traveled through the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Belgium, England and China. He gave numerous lectures on film and published works on this subject in collective works.