Víctor Casaus Sánchez

Poet, filmmaker, narrator and journalist. He has collaborated in the main national journalistic publications and in cultural publications such as: Revista Casa de las Américas, Cine Cubano, Unión, Revolución y Cultura, among others. He was one of the founders of El Caimán Barbudo.

He was born in La Habana in 1944. He holds a degree in Hispanic Language and Literature from the Universidad de La Habana. He chairs the "Pablo de la Torriente Brau" Chair, attached to the Universidad de La Habana.

He has contributed some of the most important testimonial books published in his country. He has also written essays on this genre and its relationship with Cuban cinema, which have been collected in his book Defensa del testimonio.

He belongs to the poetic generation that became known in the mid-1960s on the pages of El Caimán Barbudo, to whose founding team he belonged.

His work as a filmmaker includes his participation in the scripts of important Cuban films such as El hombre de Maisinicú, the production of more than 15 documentaries and the direction of two fiction feature films: Como la vida misma and Bajo presión.

He has been a judge for the Premio Casa de las Américas (1971, 1981 and 1996) and has participated in numerous international literary events, such as the V Encuentro de Poetas del Mundo Latino (México, 1990) and El Tercer Festival de los Poetas (Roma, 1981) and the Congress of European Latin Americanists, Salamanca, 1996.

He has attended with his films or as a judge at various film festivals, including: San Sebastián, Leipzig, Moscú, Bogotá, Cartagena and La Habana.

He has carried out intensive work disseminating his literary and cinematographic work by offering poetry recitals, lectures and film screenings at universities and other cultural centers in Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Chile, Puerto Rico, Perú, España, Estados Unidos and Suiza.

His poems have been translated into English, French, Russian, Portuguese, Italian, Czech and Polish.

The exhibition of wall-poems Los ojos sobre el pañuelo brought together 25 important Cuban painters who illustrated texts from the homonymous book, winner of the Latino American Poetry Prize "Rubén Darío" 1982.

In February 2000 he received the Order "Juan Marinello", awarded by the State Council of the Republic of Cuba.
Filmmaker at the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC).

He is currently director of the Centro Cultural Pablo de la Torriente Brau.

Literary Work

Poetry

All Days of the World (1967).
From One Island to Another Island (in the anthology Six Poets, Casa de las Américas, 1971).
Among Us (1978).
Love Without Papers (1980).
The Eyes on the Handkerchief (1982).
From One Time to This One -personal anthology (1985).
Letter from Afar -trans. to Portuguese (Luanda, Angola, 1986).
Marvel of the World (1989).
The Book of María. Presentation by Juan Gelman (San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2001 / La Habana, 2002).
While the Rain Falls –personal anthology with love poems. Prologue by Gustavo Pereira (Altazor Collection, Monte Ávila Editores, Caracas, 2005).
Perfume and Sequence of Woman –personal anthology (Editorial Letras Cubanas, La Habana, 2008).

Translations and Anthologies

Where is Vietnam? -North American poetry, trans. (1967)
Poetry of Bertolt Brecht -prol., sel. and versions (1976)
Poetry of Juan Gelman, -prol. and sel., (1986)

Short Story

On the Move (1978).

Testimony

Girón in Memory (1971)
Pablo: With the Edge of the Blade (1983)
Another Time, Another Way of Living (1984)
Let the Guitar Raise Its Hand -in collaboration with Luis Rogelio Nogueras (1984)
Crossed Letters, sel. prol. and notes (1982)
The Journalist Pablo, sel. prol. and notes (1989)
I Come from America, sel. prol. and notes (1993)
The Wild Swan, sel. and prol. (1995)
Che from Memory, sel. and prol. and notes (2004)

Children's Literature

So That This People Would Rise -in collaboration with Alquimia Peña (1986)

Essay

Name Classification Duration Year
Defense of the World 1990
Alicia (Feature Film) Documentary 75 minutes 1975
Of Life and Housing Documentary 30 minutes 1975
A Community is Born Documentary 30 minutes 1975
Museum Documentary 17 minutes 1975
Festival in La Habana Documentary 22 minutes 1976
With Mayakovsky in Moscow Documentary 21 minutes 1976
Thanks to Life Documentary 18 minutes 1976
A Whistle in the Fog Documentary 21 minutes 1977
The Sixth Part of the World (Co-direction) Documentary 1977
Encounter Documentary 17 minutes 1978
Pablo (Feature Film) Documentary 105 minutes 1978
Let's Walk Through Casa Documentary 29 minutes 1980
With Miguel Hernández in Orihuela Documentary 20 minutes 1980
Granada, Small Country, Great Revolution Documentary 29 minutes 1980
Song of Estelí Documentary 19 minutes 1981
Let the Guitar Raise Its Hand Documentary 31 minutes 1983
As Life Itself (Feature Film) Fiction 107 minutes 1985
Under Pressure (Feature Film) Fiction 100 minutes 1989

Filmography

Film Scripts

Scenes at the Docks -documentary (1970)
On a First Battle -documentary (1971)
Long Live the Republic! -documentary feature film (1972)
The Man from Maisinicú -feature film (1973)
Black River -feature film (1977)
As Life Itself -feature film, in collaboration with Luis Rogelio Nogueras (1985)

Fiction Feature Films

As Life Itself (1985)
Under Pressure (1990)

Documentaries

Alicia -feature film (1976)
Of Life and Housing (1975)
A Community is Born (1975)
Museum (1975)
Festival de La Habana (1976)
With Mayakovsky in Moscow (1976)
Thanks to Life (1976)
A Whistle in the Fog (1977)
Pablo -feature film (1978)
Encounter (1978)
Let's Walk Through Casa (1980)
With Miguel Hernández in Orihuela (1980)
Granada, Small Country, Great Revolution (1980)
Song of Estelí (1981)
Let the Guitar Raise Its Hand (1983)

Awards and Honors

1969 - Poetry Mention in the Competition of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC).
1970 - First Mention of Testimony, Premio Casa de las Américas.
1970 - Poetry Mention, Premio Casa de las Américas (book "From One Island to Another Island").
1979 - Testimony Prize, UNEAC Competition.
1982 - Latin American Poetry Prize "Rubén Darío", Nicaragua (book "The Eyes on the Handkerchief").
1983 - Critic's Prize.

Under Pressure

Golden Catalina Prize for Best Male Performance to René de la Cruz. XXX Film Festival of *Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.
Prize at the Pyong Yang Film Festival.

As Life Itself

Prize from the Socialist Youth of Czechoslovakia. XXV International Film Festival. *Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia.

With Mayakovsky in Moscow

Prize at the X Moscow Film Festival. Prize from the Soviet-Cuban Friendship Society.

Granada, Small Country, Great Revolution

Mention at the II International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, La Habana.
Selected among the most significant films of the year. Annual Selection of Critics.
Mention (Cinema) Competition July 26 of the Union of Journalists of Cuba (UPEC).
Silver Dove Prize. XXIII International Film Festival of Leipzig, GDR.

Let the Guitar Raise Its Hand

Selected among the most significant films of the year. Annual Selection of Critics.