Cuban Photographer and Filmmaker Mario García Joya Dies in Miami

April 23, 2023

Cuban photographer and filmmaker Mario García Joya Mayito passed away in Miami at the age of 85, according to friends and family members who announced his death last Saturday.

Mario García Joya is the author of a work of mandatory reference in the history of photography and cinema of the Island.

Between 1955 and 1958 he studied Fine Arts at the San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts and in 1978 he obtained his degree in Spanish Language and Literature from the University of La Habana. In 1988 he received the academic rank of Associate Full Professor at the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA).

In 1967 he was appointed Director of Photography at the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (Icaic). He was part of the filming crew for films such as La última cena (1976), Hasta cierto punto (1982), Contigo en la distancia (1992) and Fresa y Chocolate (1993).

The images from his photographic essay A la plaza con Fidel (1970) reflected with high aesthetic achievement scenes from the popular mobilizations of the era.

Founder of the Photography Archive of Cuba and an active participant in national and international exhibitions of Cuban masters of the medium, it was cinema where he fully displayed his talent, validated by awards at various festivals and critical acclaim.

He was responsible for the cinematography of major works such as Una pelea cubana contra los demonios (1970), La última cena (1976), Los sobrevivientes (1978), Hasta cierto punto (1983), Cartas del parque (1988) and Fresa y chocolate (1993), all by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea.

From the end of the last decade of the past century, García Joya resided in the United States, where he continued his career in cinema and teaching.

In the United States he was Director of Photography for the films Ahora Sí (2003), Cuba linda (2001), Las lágrimas del alma (2000), The Princess and the Barrio Boy (2000), The Emerald Cut (1999), Coraje (1998), Paradise Lost (1997), Modern Rhapsody (1996) and the short film Huaja California (1994).

Last September it became known that he suffered from a terminal illness that had caused him the loss of his neurological functions due to a degenerative neurological disease.