© Miñuca Villaverde
Ignored by most connoisseurs of the Cuban world, the cinematographic work of Miñuca Villaverde is one of the “high” moments of a cinema that seeks to reflect on its limits and its differences. With films such as A girl in love (1973), To my Father (1974), Love will never come (1977), Poor Cinderella, still ironing her husband shirt (1978), and Tent city (La ciudad de las tindas) (1980), one of the best films ever made about that trauma or fracture that was called Mariel, his work represents together with that of Nicolasito Guillén, Sabá Cabrera Infante, Orlando Jiménez Leal, Sara Gómez and some very little known films by Fernando Villaverde, the most extreme of what could be defined as the “implosive” moment of Cuban cinema, the moment where tradition and pamphlet are erased and the filmmaker only looks inward, towards what Donald Winnicott called the self. Miñuca, who is also the author of an excellent book of stories and at the time made a comic about the prison experience that is several years ahead of other things of its kind, still has, no doubt, a lot to say…
Source: Carlos A. Aguilera, El cine-límite de Miñuca Villaverde (2016)
Filmography
1973: A girl in love
1974: To my father
1977: Love will never come
1978: Poor Cinderella, still ironing her husband shirt
1980: La ciudad de las carpas (Tent City)
1980s: Figuras del exilio I (TV series)
1980s: Figuras del exilio II (TV series)
1980s: Figuras del exilio III (TV series)
Nominations and Awards
A girl in love
- Individual Independent Fellowship Award, Creative Artists´ Program Service (CAPS), New York, USA, 1973
- Special Award, The Human Sexuality Film Festival, Baltimore, USA, 1973
Poor Cinderella, still ironing her husband shirt
- Award, Florida Independent Film Festival, Tampa, USA, 1980
La ciudad de las carpas
- Special Award, Division of Arts and Culture, Florida Department of State, USA, 1980
CDfA Podcast: Miñuca Villaverde
Based on an interview conducted by José Luis Aparicio