Ten Years Since the Death of Julio García Espinosa, Founder of ICAIC and Master of Cuban Cinema

April 13, 2026

April 13, 2026 marks ten years since the death of Cuban filmmaker Julio García Espinosa Romero, an indispensable figure of Latin American cinema, founder of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), and winner of the National Cinema Award in 2004. His passing in Havana at the age of 89 left a theoretical and filmographic legacy that remains a required reference in the study of Latin American cinema.

García Espinosa was one of those filmmakers who not only made films but also reflected deeply on the art of cinema from its artistic, ethical, and political dimensions. His celebrated essay For an Imperfect Cinema (1969) remains one of the most cited manifestos of the New Latin American Cinema. To that text he added other theoretical works such as En busca del cine perdido, El destino del cine, and Lo nuevo en el Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, all of which remain fully relevant today.

A graduate of directing from the Experimental Cinematography Centre in Rome in 1953, García Espinosa co-founded ICAIC alongside Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and other luminaries of Cuban cinema. His filmography includes landmark titles such as El joven rebelde (1961), Aventuras de Juan Quinquín (1967), and Reina y Rey (1994), as well as an extensive documentary career. The year 2026 carries double significance: the tenth anniversary of his death and the centennial of his birth, expected on September 5, making this year a special invitation to rediscover his work.