Magda González Grau

Magda is a distinguished filmmaker, screenwriter, and dubbing director in Cuban television. A film and television director. She is a professor at the Faculty of Media Arts of the Instituto Superior de Arte and has been vice-president of the Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba.

She holds a degree in Literature and Hispano-American Linguistics from the Faculty of Philology at the Universidad de La Habana. She began working in 1980 in the Subtitling Department of Cuban Television and later in the Dubbing Department.

Her parents were extraordinary people who knew how to instill in their children a love of study, work, and maintaining an ethic wherever you developed yourself.

Her mother, Angela Grau Imperatori, was "very cultured," not an artist but a cultural promoter. She was always a teacher, which is where Magda inherited her vocation for teaching.

Her father, Fabio González Ferragut, was a public accountant and economist. He was a die-hard cinephile. He was a very good volleyball player. It was her father who took her to the Latinoamericano stadium for the first time, and since then she has been a baseball fan.

She had a very happy childhood and youth thanks to them and I believe I am what I am because of what they taught me to be.

She enrolled in the Philology program with the idea of becoming a teacher upon graduation, but when she finished university she did not get a position at the Faculty and she took a course in Subtitling and Dubbing at the Instituto Cubano de Radio y Televisión (ICRT), and began working there under the guidance of Jorge González Zangróniz, an excellent sound engineer who directed what was called the Synchronization Department.

It was good to work with cinema and translate into Spanish series that everyone watched like Policía 110, El Capitán Zeman, and films like La decisión de Sofía, All that jazz and others that brought me closer to cinematic language, because from going back and forth with them, you would end up knowing them by heart, in every cut, every gesture, every sequence.

She has taught courses and workshops in Cuba and abroad in different audiovisual specialties. She is a professor at the Faculty of Audiovisual Media Arts (FAMCA). She belongs to the Unión de Escritores y Artistas Cubanos (UNEAC) and was a member of its National Presidency from April 2008 to May 2014. She was President of the Commission on Cultural Economy, currently Art, Market and Cultural Industries, from 2007 to 2014.

Filmography
As Director
¿Por qué lloran, mis amigas?, feature film, 2017
Piña colada. Television film, 2017
Una calle mil caminos. Youth Magazine
Grupo Juvenil Infantil TVC. 2015, 2016, 2017
Nacer todos los días. Documentary, 2017
Hurón azul. Opinion News Program
Ver para creer. Program about audiovisual media
Añejo cinco siglos. Television tale. 2015
Cuaderno de Arte. Television film. 2012
Dos toques para Roberto. Television film. 2010
Café y Soledades. Television tale. 2012
Sol y Sombra. Television tale. 2009
Obscena intimidad. Television film. 2008
Puertas. Television film. 2006
El Caballo de Coral. Television tale. 2005
El Diablo anda suelto. Television film. 2004
El Club de los perdedores. Television film. 2004
Clase magistral. Television play. 2003
La rueda de la fortuna. Television tale. 2001
El año que viene. Telenovela with 131 chapters. 1995
Querido y viejo amigo. Documentary
La coordenada perfecta. Documentary series in three parts
Melecio y la voluntad. Documentary
Te quedarás. Regular music program
Red de Solidaridad Social. Documentary capsules
Señal Colombia, Inravisión, Colombia.

Awards and Recognition
Special Mention of the Collateral Prize from the Asociación Cubana del Audiovisual at the Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, 2017 for the feature film ¿Por qué lloran, mis amigas?
"Mariposa" Prize from the FMC at the Caracol Prize, 2017 for the magazine "Una calle mil caminos," Program "Desamparo."
Prize from the Provincial Department of Culture at the Caracol Prize, 2017 for the magazine "Una calle mil caminos," Program "Desamparo"
National and International Prize in the youth category at the Radio and Television Convention, 2016 for the magazine "Una calle mil caminos," Program "Nubes"
Caracol Prize from UNEAC in the youth category, 2015 for the magazine "Una calle mil caminos," Program "Nubes"
"Best Drama" Prize at the Caribbean Broadcasting Awards 2015 for "Añejo cinco siglos"
Best Fiction Prize at the Festival Internacional de Radio y Televisión, 2013 for the medium-length film "Añejo cinco siglos."
Recognition for Best Fiction Direction at the Festival Internacional de Radio y Televisión, 2013 for the medium-length film "Añejo cinco siglos."
Grand Fiction Prize in Television, Caracol Festival, 2013 for the medium-length film "Añejo cinco siglos."
Prize in the Tale category for the television tale "Sol y Sombra." VI Festival Nacional de Televisión, 2010
Best Drama Prize 2006 at the Caribbean Broadcasting Awards for the Television film "Puertas"
Grand Prize of the II Festival Nacional de Televisión for the Television film "Puertas," 2005
Prize in the Television Film category for the television film "Puertas." II Festival Nacional de Televisión, 2005
Prize for Best Direction of Dramatized Programs for the television film "Puertas." II Festival Nacional de Televisión, 2005
Caracol Prize for directing the television film "Puertas," 2005
"Catedral" Prize awarded by the Oficina Católica Internacional de Cine (OCIC) for the television film "Puertas," 2005
Special Caracol Prize for directing the television tale "El Caballo de Coral," 2004
Caracol Mention for directing the television film "El club de los perdedores," 2003
Mention awarded by the Oficina Católica Internacional de Cine (OCIC), for the television film "El Club de los perdedores," 2003
Mention awarded by the Federación de la Prensa Cinematográfica (FIPRESCI) for the television film "El Club de los perdedores," 2003
Caracol Prize awarded by the Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas Cubanos for directing the television play "Clase Magistral," 2002
Caracol Mention for directing the Television tale "La rueda de la fortuna," 2002
Caracol Prize awarded by the Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas Cubanos for Best Dubbing Direction in "Los 102 dálmatas," 2001
Caracol Prize awarded by the Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas Cubanos for Best Animated Screenplay, "Las llaves del conocimiento," 2001
Caracol Prize awarded by the Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas Cubanos for Best Direction for the telenovela "El año que viene," 1995.
Caracol Prize awarded by the Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas Cubanos for Best Direction for the documentary "Querido y viejo amigo," 1991.
Documentary Prize at the Festival "Tam Tam Video" in Pisa, Italy, for the documentary "Querido y viejo amigo," 1992.
"El chicuelo" Prize at the 4th Exhibition of Film and Video of the Asociación Hermanos Saíz, for the documentary "Querido y viejo amigo," 1991.
Other Awards
"Añejo cinco siglos."

Female Lead Acting Prize for actress Luisa María Jiménez at the Concurso de Actuación Caricato 2013.
Recognition in the specialties of Screenplay, Director of Photography, Original Music and lead performances for actresses Luisa María Jiménez and Amarilys Núñez at the Festival Internacional de Radio y Televisión 2013.
"Clase Magistral."

Prizes for Editing, Soundtrack and Hair and Makeup at the Caracol Festival in 2002.
Female Lead Acting Prize for actress Susana Pérez at the Concurso de Actuación Caricato 2002.
"El club de los perdedores"

Screenplay Mention at the Caracol Festival in 2003.