# Photographer Iván Nápoles Passes Away

**Date:** 07/25/2022

Havana, July 25 (RHC) The Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba announced on Monday the death of photographer Iván Nápoles, regarded as another great figure in culture and especially in cinema.



According to the cultural organization, the octogenarian creator passed away in this capital, leaving behind a prolific body of work without which "the history of the new cinema of the island generated by the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry -Icaic could not be written".



The 2016 National Cinema Award recipient developed his career starting in 1950 as a lighting technician in nightclubs and in television and later joined the technical team of Cine-revista, directed by renowned filmmaker Tomás Gutiérrez Alea.



Nápoles recorded Fidel Castro's first trip to the defunct Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and was part of other audiovisual recordings of the revolutionary leader at various national and international events.



His advancement within the profession allowed him to take on the cameras of the Icaic's Latin American Newsreel in 1961 and work as the principal operator for another essential figure of the seventh art in the Caribbean nation: Santiago Álvarez.



Together with the documentarian, Iván left his mark on the materials Cyclone, Bare Hill, Hanoi, Tuesday the 13th, 79 Springs, My Brother Fidel; while also serving as director of photography on Santiago's only feature film titled The Refugees of Dead Man's Cave (1983).



Likewise, Nápoles accompanied filmmaker Rigoberto López on the film My Port-au-Prince and director Lourdes de los Santos with whom he worked between 1997 and 2012 on the titles Identity, State of Grace, Reason for Being, From My Soul, Memories, To the Beat of a Song.