Rufo Caballero

He is an essayist, art critic and audiovisual media critic. Doctor in Art Sciences. Full Professor at the Faculty of Arts and Letters of the University of La Habana.

He has published several books on film interpretation; the most recent: Un hombre solo y una calle oscura. Los roles del género en el cine negro (Unión, 2005) and Cine latinoamericano: Un pez que huye (Fundación Autor, 2005 and Arte y Literatura, 2007). He holds the Lya Kostakowsky Hispano-American Essay Award, the Essay on Cinema in Iberoamerica and the Caribbean Award and the National Film Criticism Award; among other recognitions. In 2003 he was conferred the Distinction for National Culture.

Professor of Culture Theory. Editor of the Revista Revolución y Cultura. He completed undergraduate studies in Art History at the University of La Habana (1990). Doctorate in Art Sciences, specialized in postmodern film dramaturgy (Instituto Superior de Arte de Cuba, 1999). He has also completed several postgraduate studies on Cuban culture, art and postmodernity, and film semiology.

He received a specialization in Psychosociological Reading of Cinema, taught by theorist Noel Bürch, at the Escuela Internacional de Cine de la Habana (1994). His teaching work spans from courses on film aesthetics and pragmatics in the city of La Habana, to speaker and lecturer at numerous theoretical events at universities in Cuba, México, Bogotá, Cartagena, Pereira and Barranquilla.

He has been a tutor (or opponent) for multiple graduate theses at the Instituto Superior de Arte, the Academia San Alejandro, the University of La Habana. He has been a juror in the Award Salons that took place annually in Cuba with national character, and in the City Salons. In the theoretical events of Criticism and Research, which accompanied said salons.

Awards and Distinctions:
In 1997 he won the Lya Kostakovsky Hispano-American Essay Prize, with his book América Clásica, un paisaje con otro sentido. In the 90s he received six times the Film Criticism and Research Awards that are given annually in Cuba, by virtue of the essays: "La democracia del sabor", "No hay cine adulto sin herejía sistemática", "La apacible vehemencia de los náufragos", "Cine caribeño: una utopía tan incierta como inspirada", "El carnaval y el poder, la luz y la muerte en la poética de Tomás Gutiérrez Alea; otra pelea cubana contra los demonios". He obtained the Abril and 30 de Noviembre awards, both in Critical Essay for his book "La década prodigiosa" (1991). He won the Arte 7 prize for the "most systematic and rigorous" Cuban critic in the promotion of new art (1992).

Active Bibliography:
Rumores del cómplice. Edition of the book Los Críticos se divierten, 1998. Selection and compilation of essays from the book Cien años sin soledad, published by Letras Cubanas (Ediciones cubanas, 1998). Critical selection and prologue of the book A solas con Solàs, published by Letras Cubanas, 1998. La sinceridad suele ser escandalosa, Aquí el problema es no morirse, Sedición en la pasarela. Titles of essays and articles appearing in various anthologies: "Ser o no ser crítico de cine", "La gran ilusión", "Los cien mejores años de nuestras vidas", "Memorias de los talleres nacionales de Crítica Cinematográfica".

He dies on January 5, 2011 in the city of La Habana from a heart attack.