Tribute to filmmaker Rigoberto López at the Caribbean Film Festival

September 25, 2019

The distinguished Cuban filmmaker Rigoberto López (1947-2019) was honored today at the Fresa y Chocolate Cultural Film Center in the capital, as part of the program for the IX Itinerant Caribbean Film Festival.

Gertrudis Ortiz Carrero served as moderator of the meeting, which brought together people connected to the artist who discussed his professional and family work, and paid well-deserved tribute to his life and work.

The artists Claudia Tomás and Daniel Romero, stars of the film El Mayor (López's last feature film), shared their experiences from filming and their gratitude to the unforgettable filmmaker for that opportunity.

Romero said that he still has not met a director with so much patience to wait for everything an actor can give, and in that sense added that trust was the key to teamwork.

For his part, Ángel Alderete, cinematographer of this historical film, inspired by the patriot Ignacio Agramonte, stated that for its value, the Cuban Institute of Film Arts and Industries and Cuban television should project López's work so that new generations can learn about his work.

Maydi Estrada, master's degree holder in Caribbean studies, spoke about the film Roble de olor (2004), in which she asserts that López proposed a different analysis of racial themes, by speaking of what is ours and giving voice to those who did not have it.

According to Estrada, the film director was a guardian of ancestral memories and restores a concept of Cuban nationality that transcends the Cuban to reach a level of universality.

To continue with the tribute to this exceptional artist, eight months after his passing, the short film La soledad de la jefa de despacho (1990), starring Daysi Granados, will be screened tomorrow Tuesday at the official opening of the Festival, at seven in the evening in Room 1 of the Multicine Infanta.