Julio Rolando Pulido Castillo

Cuban director and screenwriter with a distinguished career in television. Pulido is one of the most important directors of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television, ICRT since its founding in 1962. He has been director of programs such as Sabadazo and Entre amigos.

Julio Pulido graduated in Art History from the University of La Habana. He studied Electronics and English, and completed a training course as a cameraman at the ICRT, as well as in Screenwriting and Direction. He completed a postgraduate program in Spanish Television.

In 1962 he joined the then newly created Cuban Institute of Broadcasting, now the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT). In its beginnings he worked as a general assistant, an activity he interrupted when enlisting in Active Military Service. After fulfilling this duty, he returned to the ICRT and worked as a lighting assistant and in remote control. This new occupation enabled him to relate to technology and learn from the simplest to the most complex, thus developing in his daily work within TV.

Due to his vast experience, acquired in the realization of live programs alongside technical teams, he became a director. From that point on, his audiovisual imagination became part of his creative work. His first program was Tiempo que contar, made especially for children.

From his beginning as director of musical programs, he accumulated documents and related to notable artists, musicians and personalities of culture, who in different periods managed to leave their marks in musical artistic endeavor, given their contributions to Cuban popular music through television.

He has ventured into television series, among which Heraldos del Amor stands out, a work that won an award from Spanish Television. He also directs another called Reflexiones, in which singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez is the main figure.

The musical video clip has not been absent from his extensive professional curriculum. He has made five videos for the National Folk Ensemble and for singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez, among other artists.

Sport has also had notable presence in his career, participating as TV director in four Olympics and the same number of Pan American Games.

Among his most notable programs, Sabadazo stands out, a space that enjoyed great popular acceptance and provided the opportunity to see what was most valued and brilliant in the nineties within Cuban humor, a manifestation that undoubtedly played the leading role in the program.

Among the most successful musicals directed by Pulido, La descarga and more recently Entre amigos stand out. In both projects Julio Acanda has taken on the hosting duties, thus sharing on-screen productions with the renowned director for more than 12 years.

It is worth noting that consistently in the musical projects directed by Pulido, Cuban musicians of great excellence are presented, with a very notable trajectory, as well as novice artists and even those unknown to the general public.

Versatile in his capacity as screenwriter and program director, he is valued for work of high caliber in a medium of communication where he has left a mark of great professionalism and talent.

Programs Produced
"En FM", "TR RP", annual competitions of "Para Bailar", "A ritmo caliente", "Sabadazo", "Entre amigos", "Sábado conmigo", "Fin de semana", "Para no salir de casa", "La Descarga", "Se me ocurrió el sábado", "Programa de 9550", filmed in Cuba and in: Nicaragua, Moscow and Bulgaria.

As well as directing "Proposiciones" with script and hosting by troubadour Pablo Milanés and, "Su noche con Alfredo" hosted by Alfredito Rodríguez.

Among children's programs: "Tiempo que contar" and "Fiesta de verano".

Series: "Pensamiento" hosted by the stellar singer and performer Miriam Ramos, "Los aretes que le faltan a la Luna", about the history of "Tropicana", and "Gira por la Patria con Silvio Rodríguez", where the first live concert was broadcast from the "Pico Real del Turquino", which was the first broadcast in the history of Cuba from that place, the highest point of the Sierra Maestra.

National and International Festivals:
He directed the artistic and TV direction of the First Festival of Symphonic Orchestras from Revolution Square with singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez and maestro Leo Brower, directed the closing galas of the II, III and IV of the TV Festivals, and was artistic and TV director of "Festison" in the Dominican Republic for more than five years dedicated to Son, with outstanding international figures.

Jury member of the international TV awards in Guayaquil, he also directed the final stage of the Varadero Song Festivals, XI Festival of Youth and Students.

Since 2000 he produced the Cuban Music Contest "Adolfo Guzmán", covered the two papal visits and was part of the artistic direction for the Anniversary of the Foundation of San Cristóbal de La Habana in the years 2004-06.

He was present at the opening and closing of the XI Pan American Games, Habana '91 and those in Guadalajara, Mexico; and in the Pan American Games of: Mar del Plata, Rio de Janeiro, and the Beijing 2008 Olympics, London 2012.

His work also includes the Gala of the 100 Best Athletes of the Year, and artistic directions of different acts and visits of personalities and politicians to our homeland, including the official visit of President Barack Obama to Cuba and political events throughout more than 50 years of a fruitful career.

Awards and Recognition

He possesses various recognitions, mentions and national and international Television awards, among them those granted by the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, as well as in Prague, Czechoslovakia, for a program dedicated to the music of maestro Ernesto Lecuona and the renowned pianist and composer Frank Fernández.

He holds the Distinction for National Culture.

He was awarded the National Television Prize 2014, in recognition of a lifetime dedicated to this medium and the Popularity Prize "Entre tú y yo" in that same year.

He was decorated with the Seal 65th Anniversary of Cuban Television.

Special Mention of Jazz Film Salon of Poland with Rubalcaba, CARACOL Prizes from UNEAC, National TV Festivals, CORAL Prize from the Latin American Film Festival, First Prize in RTVE video competition, Prizes: Raúl Martínez Villena, ABRIL, FAR, MININT, Laureate Seal, Congress of the CDR, Replica of the Machete of the Generalissimo "Máximo Gómez", CDR Neighborhood Prize, Entre Tú y Yo, Artist of Merit, COC Diplomas, National Vanguard, etc.

Mention Journalism Prize May 1st from the CTC, Raúl Gómez García Medals. La Gitana Tropical CNC, National TV Prize and Havana Distinction from the Center, among many others.