© Rolando Díaz
Rolando Díaz (Havana, August 13, 1947) is a Cuban film director and screenwriter. A large part of his work is linked to the Latin American ICAIC Newscast and to the boom of the Cuban documentary during the 1980s.
He began working in 1969 as a microphone operator in the ICAIC Sound Department. Since 1977 he was linked to the office of the ICAIC Latin American Newscast, under the tutelage of Santiago Álvarez Román (1919-1998). He had as partners the filmmakers Fernando Pérez Valdés (1944-) and Daniel Díaz Torres. As a director, he directed more than 80 episodes. In 1984 he made his first fiction feature film, the popular comedy Los pájaros tirándole a la escopeta.
Since 1994 he lives in the Canary Islands (Spain), where he works as a professor at the Canary Islands School of Actors. He also teaches at the Screenwriters Training School of the Audiovisual Research Foundation, based in Valencia (Spain). In 2003 he was director of the International Film Course, organized by the Menéndez Pelayo International University, entitled “Dialogues on the audiovisual: from the script to the market.”
He works as deputy director of the Miradas Doc International Documentary Festival and as co-director of the Scriptwriting Laboratory (LEAC) of the Autonomous Government of the Canary Islands.
Filmography
1976: La respuesta del pueblo (Documentary short)
1977: En el tiempo preciso (Documentary short)
1977: Festival Nacional de la Juventud y los Estudiantes (Documentary short)
1977: Momentos del Cardín (Documentary short)
1978: Medellín min78 (Documentary short)
1978: 45 días (Documentary short)
1979: Encuentro en Cozumel (Documentary short)
1979: Redonda y viene en caja cuadrada (Documentary short)
1979: Panamá quererte (Documentary short)
1980: Quincho Barrilete (Documentary short)
1981: Controversia (Documentary short)
1981: No van lejos los de alante… si los de atrás corren bien (Documentary short)
1981: Tu gigantesco paso de millones (Documentary short)
1982: Del uno al diez (Documentary short)
1982: Para gusto se han hecho los colores (Documentary short)
1984: Los pájaros tirándole a la escopeta (Feature)
1988: La vida en rosa (Feature)
1993: El largo viaje de Rústico (Documentary short)
1996: Melodrama (Feature)
1998: Yo look, tu look (Short) (supervising director)
1999: If You Only Understood (Documentary)
2004: En tres y dos
2006: La vida según Ofelia
2007: Actrices, actores, exilio (Documentary)
2008: Cercanía (Feature)
2010: Puzzle
2013: Los Caminos de Aissa (Documentary)
2020: Dossier de ausencias
2021: Una elefanta sobre la tela de una araña (Documentary)
Nominations and Awards
La vida en rosa
- Best Film Nominee, Fantasporto International Film Festival, Oporto, Portugal, 1990
Los pájaros tirándole a la escopeta
- Grand Coral – Third Prize Winner, Havana Film Festival, Cuba, 1984
- Grand Jury Award, Benalmádena Film Festival, Spain, 1984
- Golden Catalina Prize, Best Film, Cartagena de Indias International Film Festival, Colombia, 1984
- Merit Award, London Film Festival, UK, 1984
El largo viaje de Rústico
- Danzante de Plata Award, Festival Internacional de cine de Huesca, Spain, 1993
- Best Documentary Short Film Nominee, Goya Awards, Spain, 1994
Si me comprendieras
- Special Mention Winner, Havana Film Festival, Cuba, 1999
Dossier de ausencias
- Best Production, Ibero-American Film Festival, Trieste, Italy, 2021
