Manuel Pérez Paredes

Cuban film director. Founder of the ICAIC, and of the Committee of Latin American Filmmakers. National Film Prize, 2013.

From a young age he had interests in cinema. He was a member of the Cultural Society Cine Club Visión, from which emerged filmmakers who would later integrate into the ICAIC upon its founding.

The International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, which has always been unable to do without Manuel Pérez Paredes, awards an Honor Coral to the most lucid and sharp chronicler of the history of the ICAIC since its foundational times.

Work Experience
In 1959 he began working at the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), as an assistant director of documentaries and feature films. He is, therefore, one of the founders of the ICAIC. He was assistant director to Tomás Gutiérrez Alea (Titón) in the short story The Battle of Santa Clara from the feature film Stories of the Revolution.

In 1961, he directed his first documentary Cinco Picos. He worked in the ICAIC Latinoamericano Newsreel, in which he produced around 34 editions. In 1973, he began as a feature film director with the film The Man from Maisinicú. In 1977, he held the position of President of the Film, Radio and Television Section of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, until 1978.

He was one of the founders of the Committee of Latin American Filmmakers, constituted in Caracas in September 1974. From this date on, he worked fundamentally in the artistic advisory of documentaries and taught seminars and short courses on film appreciation in various organizations and cultural institutions. He also collaborated in writing film reviews for the magazine Cuban Cinema.

From 1988 to 1992, he was elected by common agreement between the filmmakers and the ICAIC leadership as director of one of the Creation Groups, a structure through which the creative work of documentary and fiction filmmakers was organized in those years. In the group he directed, films such as La Bella del Alambra, by Enrique Pineda; Alicia in the Town of Wonders, by Daniel Díaz; Adorable Lies, by Gerardo Chijona; Hello Hemingway and Madagascar by Fernando Pérez stood out.

He has represented Cuban cinematography in numerous International Festivals and Events. He worked as co-writer and co-director of the documentary feature film On the Other Side of the Glass, about Operation Peter Pan, a maneuver with political intentions, coordinated between the Federal Government of the United States, the Catholic Church and Cubans who were in exile, between 1960 and 1962, through which more than 14,000 children were taken from Cuba to the United States.

He serves as Artistic Advisor to the ICAIC Film Production Company and is part of the Board of Directors of the New Latin American Cinema Foundation.

In April 2013 he was distinguished with the National Film Prize, awarded by MINCULT and the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry of Cuba, in recognition of his prolific intellectual work dedicated to Cuban cinema and the entirety of his cinematographic work.

Filmography
As director.
Cinco Picos (Doc) 1961.
Caimanera (Doc. 8´) 1962.
Town of Low Stars (Doc. 9´) 1963.
Era Nikel Co. (Doc. 15´) 1963.
Hope (Fict. 25´) 1964.
Big and Small (Doc. 8´) 1966.
The Deserter (Fict. 37´) 1968.
The Man from Maisinicú (FM. Fict. 124´) 1973.
Black River (FM. Fict. 140´) 1977.
The Second Hour of Esteban Zayas (FM. Fict. 90´) 1984.
On the Other Side of the Glass (Co-writer and Co-director. Doc. about Operation Peter Pan. 52´) 1995.
Che Guevara: where they never imagined him, from the Doc. series Cuba: Roads of Revolution.
International Solidarity, from the Documentary series, Cuba: Roads of Revolution. 2004
Pages from Mauricio's Diary (FM fict.) 2006.

As assistant director.
He was assistant to Cesare Zavattini on the screenplay for the film The Young Rebel
Why Was the Rebel Army Born? (Doc.), 1960.
Fatherland or Death (Doc), 1960.
Stories of the Revolution (Fict.), 1960.
Up with the Peasant (Doc), 1960.
In Step with Cuba (Doc), 1960.
Adventures of Juanquinquín (FM Fict.), 1967.
Traveling with the Best (Doc. 18´), 1967.

As co-writer.
Blow for Blow (Co-writer. Doc.) 1974
The Family (Co-writer. Doc.) 1975
On the Other Side of the Glass (Co-writer and Co-director. Doc. about Operation Peter Pan. 52´) 1995
Operation Fangio (Cuba-Argentina-Spain). Co-writer. FM fict. Director Alberto Lecchy. 1998
The Mafia in Havana (Co-writer. Doc.), 2000
Pata Negra (Spain-Cuba). Co-writer. (Fict.) Director Luis Oliveiros, 2000.

Awards and Recognition
The Man from Maisinicú.
Prize for Best Male Performance (Sergio Corrieri) VIII International Film Festival. Moscow, USSR.
Selected among the most significant films exhibited in 1973 Annual Critics' Selection. Havana, Cuba.
Prize from the Soviet Screen Magazine VIII International Film Festival. Moscow, USSR.
The International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, which has always been unable to do without Manuel Pérez Paredes, awarded an Honor Coral to the most lucid and sharp chronicler of the history of the ICAIC since its foundational times.

Black River.
Special Jury Prize X International Film Festival. Moscow, USSR.
Selected by Cuban critics among the best films of 1977. Havana, Cuba.

On the Other Side of the Glass.
April 95 Prize awarded by the Union of Communist Youth. Havana, Cuba.
Documentary Mention. 26 of July Journalistic Competition of the Union of Journalists of Cuba. Havana, Cuba. 1995.

Pages from Mauricio's Diary.
Special Jury Prize at the International Film Festival of Huelva. Spain, 2006.
Special Jury Mention. 28 International Festival of New Latin American Cinema. Havana, 2006.
Prize from the Cuban Association of Cinema Press at the Caracol Festival. Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba. Havana, 2006.
Best Screenplay Prize. XIII International Film Festival of Lleida. Barcelona.
National Film Prize 2013
Master of Youth Prize 2019