Pavel Giroud

Pavel Giroud. Film and Video Director. He is a graduate of the Instituto Superior de Diseño. He has studied at the International Film and TV School of San Antonio de los Baños and other centers of artistic education.

Cuban Film Director and Screenwriter based in Madrid, Spain. He came to cinema from Video Art and a recognized body of work as a creator of music videos and promotional shorts. With the film "Tres veces dos", in which he wrote and directed one of the three stories that compose it, he won the Silver Zenith for Best First Work at the Montreal Film Festival.

His first feature film as sole director, "La Edad de la peseta" (Mediapro-ICAIC), Candidate from Cuba for the Oscar Awards and Nominated for the Goya Award by the Spanish Film Academy, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival; awarded at multiple International Festivals around the world and chosen as the best Cuban film of the year. The University of Houston included it, along with 7 other Hispanic films signed by Buñuel, Almodóvar, Erice and Cuerda, in the "Modern and Classical Languages. Spanish Films" study program and in 2020, the Cinemateca de Cuba selected it as one of the 10 films with the best Cinematography and Art Direction of all productions by ICAIC in its 60 years.

His next film, "Omerta", won the Coral Award in the Best Original Screenplay category at the XXVII International Film Festival in Havana and premiered the following year at the San Sebastián Film Festival.

In 2014 he co-directed the documentary film "Playing Lecuona", starring pianists Chucho Valdés, Michel Camilo and Gonzalo Rubalcaba, accompanied by Ana Belén, Raymundo Amador, Omara Portuondo and other notable musicians. Award-winning at the Montreal Film Festival as Best Documentary and at the New York International Film Festival, where it received the Merit Award.

"El Acompañante" was a candidate from Cuba for the Oscar Awards and whose screenplay was recognized as Best Project in Development at the 61 San Sebastian Film Festival and the SGAE Julio Alejandro award for best Ibero-American screenplay, was nominated for the Platino Awards as Best Screenplay and for the Forqué as best Latin American film of the year; it won the Audience Award in Miami, Toulouse, Málaga and Havana (2nd prize) and the best screenplay award at HFF New York, where the president of Brooklyn County, Eric Adams, granted him recognition for "the good use of cinema as a social tool".

He has worked on two television series for Tornasol Films and Zeta audiovisual respectively; and from his upcoming film "El soldado perfecto", a story set in Colombia in the midst of a Peace process.

Giroud has been a collaborator of the collective of artists Los Carpinteros, for whom he wrote and directed the videos "Retráctil", "Polaris", "Conga Irreversible" and "Pellejo". After the separation of this group, he has continued his work with one of its members, Dagoberto Rodríguez, directing the film "Geometría Popular", which premiered in May at the Sabrina Armani Gallery in Madrid. Another of his collaborations was as acting coach for actress Penélope Cruz in the film Wasp Network directed by Olivier Assayas. For more than three months he trained her to achieve the Cuban accent of her character, as well as adapting her dialogues in the screenplay to the way of speaking in Cuba.

His works have been exhibited in National and International Festivals. He won the Silver Zenith for Best First Work at the 28 Festival des films du monde in Montreal, Canada as director of one of the stories in the film Tres veces dos (first story). He subsequently filmed La edad de la peseta, a film that was selected for the Discovery section of the Toronto Film Festival.

As a screenwriter, he won the Coral Award in the Best Original Screenplay category at the XXVII International Festival of New Latin American Cinema (Havana, 2005) with the project Omerta; which he later filmed in 2008. For his screenplay Emporio Habana he received the Fundación Carolina Fellowship (Spain 2002) for Development of Ibero-American Projects. As art director and graphic creator he has collaborated on several films and theatrical works. He has worked as a camera operator and editor on fiction shorts, documentaries and videoclips.

Filmography
As director
Recuerdo de mi boda (Doc) 1997

Su favorita Celia Cruz (3:15´. Monobanda / Atelier G) 1997

Conocí la paz (Monobanda / Atelier G. 3:15´) 1997

Dossier (Monobanda / Atelier G. 3:15´) 1997

Alma Musical (Art Direction. Director Luis Hernán Reyna)

Guillermina (Art Direction. EICTV / Canal +. Director Claudia Posada) 1998

Cigarros Populares (Promotional Spot) 1998

Cerveza Cristal (Promotional Spot.)

Rrring (Fiction) 1998

Celina, 50 años como una reina (EPK of the homonymous album) 1999

ICAIC, 40 años (Promotional Spot. 0:45´) 1999

Casa Viva (Spot) 1999

Maracaibo Oriental (Video clip) 1999

Santa Bárbara (Video clip) 1999

Candela (Art Direction. Director Joaquín Bize.) 2000

Chopin, Nocturnos (Promotional Spot for Concert) 2000

Festival de Cine Europeo en Cuba (Promotional Spot) 2000

Festival de Cine Francés en Cuba (Promotional Spot) 2000

Revista Cine Cubano (Promotional Spot) 2000

Cubana de Aviación (Promotional Spot.) 2000

XXII Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano (Promotional Spot for movie theaters) 2000

Just be here (Doc.) 2000

www.manzanita.com (Fiction) 2001

Celina (Doc.) 2001

Homenaje a trovadores y soneros (Video clip) 2001

Arráncame la vida (Video clip) 2001

Mi Tumbao (Video clip) 2001

Miradas (Trailer, Art Direction and Credits Design. Feature film. Director Enrique Álvarez) 2001

Cristina Hoyos (Spot.) 2002

From Havana to Rio (Promotional Spot) 2002

Acaramelao (Video clip) 2002

Suavecito (Video clip) 2002

El paralítico (Video clip) 2002

Todo por ella (Fiction.) 2002

Mueve la Pachanga (Video clip) 2003

El Rabito del Lechón (Video clip) 2003

Llegarás (Video clip) 2003

Vamos a celebrar (Video clip) 2003

La casa por la ventana (Doc.) 2003

Festival de Cine Francés en Cuba (Promotional Spot) 2004

III Muestra Nacional de Nuevos Realizadores (Spot) 2004

Silk Screen (Doc.) 2004

Tres veces dos (First story: Flash) 2004

Yo canto en el llano (Video clip) 2004
Omerta Film

Vino Amargo (Video clip) 2005

Cleopatra (Video clip) 2005

Esther Borja: Rapsodia de Cuba (Doc.) 2005

Frank Emilio, amor y piano (Doc.) 2005

Maracujá (Video clip) 2006

Car Havana (Doc.) 2006

Café (Video clip) 2006

La edad de la peseta (Feature Film. Fiction) 2007

Omerta (Feature Film. Fiction) 2008

As designer

Carlos Varela, fajao con los leones (Animated graphics design. ISA / ICAIC) 1998
XX Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano (Animated graphics design for projection screens. Opening and Closing Shows) 1998
Moneda dura, con los pies en la tierra (Animated graphics design). 1999
La Época, El Encanto y Fin de Siglo (Graphics and animations design. Director Juan Carlos Cremata. Centro Cultural de España) 2000
Luis Carbonell, después de tanto tiempo (Credits sequence design. Doc. Director Ian Padrón) 2001
Nada (Credits and Poster design. Feature film. Director Juan Carlos Cremata) 2001
Miradas (Trailer, Art Direction and Credits Design. Feature film. Director Enrique Álvarez) 2001
Suite Habana (Film graphic design. Director Fernando Pérez) 2002
*Viviendo al límite Doc (Poster) 2004

Awards and recognition

Rrring

Caracol Prize for Best Fiction Short. UNEAC, 1998.
First Prize for Fiction. National Cinema Plaza Festival, 1998.
Best Screenplay. National Cinema Plaza Festival, 1998.
Best Fiction Work. Festival El Almacén de la Imagen, 1998.
Best Soundtrack. Festival El Almacén de la Imagen, 1998.
Vitral Prize for Best Fiction Work. National Video Encounter, 1999.
Vitral Prize for Experimental Work. National Video Encounter, 1999.
International Film School Prize. National Video Encounter, 1999.
Revista Caimán Barbudo Prize. National Video Encounter, 1999.

Casa Viva

Caracol Prize for Best Direction of Advertising Spots. UNEAC, 1999.
Mention for Non-commercial Message. National Video Encounter, 1999.

Arráncame la vida

Prize for Best Video clip. Festival El Almacén de la Imagen, 2001
Lucas Prize 2002 for Best Director / Best Traditional Music Video.

Celina

EGREM Prize. National Video Encounter, 2001.
UNEAC Prize. National Video Encounter, 2001.
Emporio Habana (film screenplay)
Fundación Carolina Fellowship for Development of Film Projects. Madrid, Spain.

www.manzanita.com

Best Editing. National Cinema Plaza Festival, 2001.
Best Soundtrack. National Cinema Plaza Festival, 2001.
Best Soundtrack Design. Festival El Almacén de la Imagen, 2001.
Vitral Prize for Best Cinematography. National Video Encounter, 2001.

Mi Tumbao

Caracol Prize for Best Video clip Direction. UNEAC. 2002.
Lucas Prize for Best Popular Music Video / Best Art Direction, 2002.
Prize for Best Video clip. CUBADISCO 2002.

Todo por ella

Rosario Film Festival, Argentina - Best Editing / Best Male Performance.
Caracol Prize for Best Short Film Screenplay. (UNEAC).
Festival El Almacén de la Imagen. Hermanos Saíz Association. Grand Jury Prize / Best Soundtrack.
Special Jury Prize. II Exhibition of New Filmmakers.
National Video Encounter, 2003 - Vitral Prize for Best Fiction Work / Cinematography / Editing / Soundtrack.

Tres veces dos

FIPRECI Prize, III National Exhibition of New Filmmakers, 2004.
International Film School Prize, III National Exhibition of New Filmmakers. 2004.
Best Fiction, III National Exhibition of New Filmmakers, 2004.
Silver Zenith for Best First Work. 28 Festival des films du monde. Montreal, 2004.
Prize for Best Foreign Fiction Film. VII Ícaro Festival of Central American Cinema and Video, 2004.
Prize from the Circle of Culture Journalists. XXVI International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, 2004.
El Mégano Prize from the National Association of Film Clubs. XXVI International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, 2004.
Selected among the 10 most significant films exhibited in Cuba during 2004. Cuban Association of Film Press.
Best Foreign Film Prize. International Ibero-American Film Festival of Guatemala. 2004.
Caracol Prizes for Best Soundtrack, Best Editing, Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction. Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba. Havana, 2004.
Special mention, granted by the Cuban Association of Press (ACPC). International Poor Cinema Festival of Gibara. Cuba, 2005.

La edad de la peseta

Prize from the Association of Cinema, Radio and TV of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), for Best Fiction Film. 28 International Festival of New Latin American Cinema. Havana, 2006.
Glauber Rocha Prize from the Latin American News Agency Prensa Latina. 28 International Festival of New Latin American Cinema. Havana, 2006.
Audience Prize from the Portal of the Foundation of New Latin American Cinema. 28 International Festival of New Latin American Cinema. Havana, 2006.
Vivian del Valle Prize for Best Art Direction. 28 International Festival of New Latin American Cinema. Havana, 2006.
Cinematography Prize for Luis Najmías. 28 International Festival of New Latin American Cinema. Havana, 2006.
Selected as the best feature film of the year by the Cuban Association of Film Press. Havana, 2006.
Prize for Best Film. 47 International Cartagena Film Festival. Colombia, 2007
Chris Holter Prize for Best humor film. 50 International San Francisco Film Festival. United States, 2007.
Best Director. 17 Ibero-American Film Festival of Ceará, Brazil. 2007.
Best Art Direction for Vivian del Valle. 17 Ibero-American Film Festival of Ceará, Brazil. 2007.
Best Fiction Film, Ibero-American Cinema and Video Festival Cinesul, Rio de Janeiro, 2007.
Best Soundtrack for Ulises Hernández. 17 Ibero-American Film Festival of Ceará, Brazil. 2007.
Audience Prize. Zero Latitude Film Festival. Ecuador, 2007
Second Audience Prize. Lima Film Festival. Peru, (2007)
Best Female Performance Prize for Mercedes Sampietro. 9th International Exhibition, 2007
Caracol Prize (UNEAC) in specialties of Direction; Editing (Lester Hamlet); Cinematography (Luis Najmías); Costume Design (Liz Álvarez); Makeup and Hair (Magdalena Álvarez and Elio Durán); Sole Original Music Prize (Ulises Hernández) 2007
Prize for Best Screenplay. National Film Festival of Mérida. Venezuela, 2007
Prize for Best Male Performance (Iván Carreira). National Film Festival of Mérida. Venezuela, 2007
Nominated for the Goya Awards as Best Foreign Film, 2007
New Vision Prize for Best Non-English Language Film. Santa Bárbara International Film Festival. California. United States, 2008.