Marilyn Solaya

Graduate of the specialty in directing from the Faculty of Art of Audiovisual Media of the ISA and in Theater Directing from the National School of Art.

She began in cinema as an actress. In 1993 she played the character of Vivian in the film Fresa y chocolate by directors Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío.

Between 1992 and 1993 she worked as an assistant director for television in dramatized series, and from 1992 to 1994 she worked at the National Center for Experimentation and Promotion of the Schools of Art. There she directed different stage productions and workshops for the V and VI Latin American and Caribbean Encounters on Artistic Teaching.

In 1996 she worked on the Argentine film Despabílate, amor by director Eliseo Subiela. Later she participated in various co-productions with the ICAIC and in short films from the EICTV.

Subsequently she participated in various co-productions with the Cuban Institute of Film Art and Industry and in short films from the International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños.

Filmography
Direction
Vestido de novia (2015)
/ Fiction
In Havana in 1994, an outstanding worker as a nursing assistant, and the chief engineer of an important construction project for the country's tourism development, fall in love, marry and try to be happy. Until a secret from her past erupts and...

En el cuerpo equivocado (2010)
/ Documentary
A journey into the inner world of a Cuban transsexual woman, who twenty years after her sex reassignment surgery, questions the way she has constructed her femininity based on the stereotypes and prejudices of a sexist, patriarchal and h...

Hasta que la muerte nos separe (2001)
/ Documentary
Demetrio loves his cow Matilda and is faithful to that love until death separates them. ...

Mírame, mi amor (2002)
/ Documentary
A dramatized documentary that includes testimonies of victims and perpetrators, as well as interviews with psychologists and legal experts, on a difficult and rare subject in cinema: exhibitionism, seen as a disorder of sexuality and behavior. ...

Screenplay
Vestido de novia (2015)
/
In Havana in 1994, an outstanding worker as a nursing assistant, and the chief engineer of an important construction project for the country's tourism development, fall in love, marry and try to be happy. Until a secret from her past erupts and...

En el cuerpo equivocado (2010)
/
A journey into the inner world of a Cuban transsexual woman, who twenty years after her sex reassignment surgery, questions the way she has constructed her femininity based on the stereotypes and prejudices of a sexist, patriarchal and h...

Hasta que la muerte nos separe (2001)
/
Demetrio loves his cow Matilda and is faithful to that love until death separates them. ...

Mírame, mi amor (2002)
/
A dramatized documentary that includes testimonies of victims and perpetrators, as well as interviews with psychologists and legal experts, on a difficult and rare subject in cinema: exhibitionism, seen as a disorder of sexuality and behavior. ...

Acting
Fresa y chocolate (1993)
/ Fiction
A cultured and marginalized homosexual man who loves his country and its traditions meets a young university student with literary interests, but a militant member of the Communist Youth. Between the two a friendly relationship is established

Awards and Honors
Esta tierra nuestra

Congratulations from the International Jury to the Cuban Cinema Movement. Oberhausen Festival, FRG, 1961.
Diploma of Honor. XIII International Film Festival. Locarno, Switzerland, 1960.
Certificate of Merit. International Agricultural Film Festival. West Berlin, 1960.
Historias de la Revolución

Diploma of Honor. I International Film Festival. Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 1968.
Special Prize. International Film Festival. Melbourne, Australia, 1962.
Special Mention. III Latin American Film Review. Sestri Levante, Italy, 1962.
Prize from the Union of Soviet Writers. II International Film Festival. Moscow, USSR, 1961.
Muerte al invasor.

Prize for Best Ensemble Program (Cuban films). Leipzig Festival, GDR, 1961.
Notable Film of the Year (shared). V London Film Festival, England, 1961.
Las doce sillas

Honorary Diploma Union of Soviet Film Workers, III International Film Festival. Moscow, USSR, 1963.
Cumbite

Silver Medal (special invitation), International Film Festival, Cork, Ireland, 1966.
La muerte de un burócrata.

Selected for Best Credits of the Year 1978.
Dominican Circle of Film Critics. Santo Domingo, 1979. Special Prize of the Jury, XV International Film Festival, Czechoslovakia, Karlovy Vary, 1966.
Memorias del subdesarrollo.

Charles Chaplin Prize, Association of Young Critics. New York, USA, 1973.
Rosenthal Prize, National Association of Film Critics of the USA. New York, USA, 1973.
Diploma of Selection, London Festival, England, 1971.
Warsaw Siren Prize, from the Critics Club. Warsaw, Poland, 1970.
FICC Prize. Youth Festival, France, Jeune Cinema Hyeres Festival, 1970.
FICC Prize (International Federation of Film Clubs), Czechoslovakia, Karlovy Vary.
FIPRESCI Prize (International Federation of Cinema Press), XVI International Film Festival, Czechoslovakia, Karlovy Vary.
Extraordinary Prize of the Authors' Jury, XVI International Film Festival, Czechoslovakia, Karlovy Vary, 1968.
Second Prize at Film Festival, Alcances Cultural Week. Cádiz, Spain, 1975.
Fresa y Chocolate

First Coral Prize. XV International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, Havana, Cuba, 1993.
Prize for Best Unpublished Screenplay. XIV International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, Havana, Cuba, 1992.
ONDAS Prize. Radio Barcelona, Spain, 1994.
First Shared Kikito Prize for Acting (Jorge Perugorría and Vladimir Cruz).
Audience Prize and Critics Prize. Latin American Film Festival Paso Norte, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, 1994.
Prize for Best Foreign Film by the Association of Film Critics of New York.
Goya Prize for Best Foreign Film in Spanish Language awarded by the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain, 1995.
Nominated for Oscar Prize for Best Foreign Film by the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Hollywood, United States, 1995.
Prize for Best Film, Best Leading Performance (Jorge Perugorría), Best Supporting Performance (Vladimir Cruz) and Best Direction awarded by the Association of Film Critics of Los Angeles, California, USA, 1995
Audience Prize, Critics Prize, Kikito Prize for Best Film,
Female Acting Prize (Mirta Ibarra). Gramado Festival, Brazil, 1994.
Coral Prize for Male Acting (Jorge Perugorría). XV International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, Havana, Cuba, 1993.
Coral Prize for Supporting Female Acting (Mirta Ibarra). XV International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, Havana, Cuba, 1993.
Coral Prize for Direction. XV International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, Havana, Cuba, 1993.
Silver Bear for Best Film, First Audience Prize, First Special Mention of the Ecumenical Jury. Berlin Film Festival, 1994.
Grand Public Prize. II Paso del Norte Festival, Mexico, 1994.
Prize for Best Film Exhibited in Brazil. O'Globo Newspaper Survey, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1994.
Panambi Prizes for Best Latin American Film, Best Screenplay, Best Acting Performance (Jorge Perugorría and Vladimir Cruz), Best Soundtrack and Audience Prize. 5th. Asunción Festival, Paraguay, 1994.
Caracol Prize for Best Screenplay (Senel Paz). Film, Radio and Television Festival of the UNEAC, Havana, 1994.
Significant Film of the Year. Annual Critics Selection, Havana, Cuba, 1994. Caracol Prize for Scenic Arts to Mirta Ibarra, Jorge Perugorría and Vladimir Cruz. Film, Radio and Television Festival of the UNEAC, Havana, 1994.
Significant Film of the Year. Annual Critics Selection, Havana, Cuba, 1993.
FIPRESCI Prize. XV International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, Havana, Cuba, 1993.
OCIC Prize. XV International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, Havana, Cuba, 1993.
Prize from the Union of Arci Nova Film Clubs (UCCA). XV International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, Havana, Cuba, 1993.
Popularity Prize. XV International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, Havana, Cuba, 1993.
Prize from El Caimán Barbudo. XV International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, Havana, Cuba, 1993.
Prize from Radio Habana Cuba. XV International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, Havana, Cuba, 1993.
Guantanamera

Kikito Prize for Best Film, Critics Prize, Male Acting Prize (Carlos Cruz). XXIV Gramado Festival, Brazil, 1996.
Prize for Best Leading Actor (Jorge Perugorría). Scenic Arts Section of the UNEAC. XII National UNEAC Festival of Film, Radio and Television, Havana, 1995.
Popularity Prize. XIII Latin American Film Festival, Chicago, USA, 1997. *Special Prize of the Catalina de Oro Jury, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, 1996.
Jury Prize. VIII International Film Festival, Viña del Mar, Chile.
Ondas Prize for Best Film, awarded by TVE, Madrid, Spain, 1995.
South West Audience Prize. International Film and Latin American Cultures Festival, Biarritz, France, 1995.
Second Coral Prize. XVII International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, Havana, 1995.

Works
Director

Alegrías (1999)
Hasta que la muerte nos separe (2001)
Mírame mi amor (2002)
Retamar (2004)
En el cuerpo equivocado (2010)
Vestido de novia (2014)
Screenwriter

Alegrías (1999)
Hasta que la muerte nos separe (2001)
Mírame mi amor (2002)
Vestido de novia (2014)
Actress

Fresa y chocolate (1993)
Despabílate amor (1996)
Sensibile (1998)
Resonancias (1998)