Humberto Solás

from Havana, Cuba

Biography

Humberto Solás (14 December 1941 – 18 September 2008) was a Cuban film director, credited with directing the classic film Lucía (1968), which explored the lives of Cuban women during different periods in Cuban history.

His cinematic style borrows from Luchino Visconti's spectacular mise en scene and is permeated by sometimes heavy melodrama. He started making shorts at a very young age, before directing his first medium length film Manuela, in 1966. The success of this film led him to direct Lucía, an ambitious period piece told in three stories in different moments of Cuban history, all as seen through the eyes of a different woman, each named Lucia. He later directed many different projects with a degree of success, but he never matched again the international acclaim of his first feature.

Solás has won 13 awards for filmmaking and been nominated for an additional 9. His 1968 film Lucía won the Golden Prize and the Prix FIPRESCI at the 6th Moscow International Film Festival. His 1985 film A Successful Man was entered into the 15th Moscow International Film Festival.

In 1977 he was a member of the jury at the 10th Moscow International Film Festival. He has twice served on the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival, in 1977 and 1997. In 2003, he founded Gibara's Poor Cinema Festival, "open to filmmakers with limited funds". Solás was awarded Cuba's National Film Prize in 2005.

Humberto Solás died of cancer on September 18, 2008, at the age of 66.

Timeline

2020Aged 79

  • Poster for Humberto & “Lucía”

    Self

2003Aged 62

  • Poster for Memorias de Lucía

    (Unknown)

  • Poster for Honey for Oshun

    Director

2002Aged 61

  • Poster for Rocha Que Voa

    Self

2001Aged 60

  • Poster for Barrio Cuba

    Director

1989Aged 48

  • Poster for Obataleo

    Director

1986Aged 45

  • Poster for A Successful Man

    Director

1984Aged 43

  • Poster for Claves, 4: Memories of Cuban cinema

    Self

1982Aged 41

1977Aged 36

1976Aged 35

  • Poster for One Day in November

    Writer

  • Poster for Cantata de Chile

    Writer

1974Aged 33

  • Poster for Simparelé

    Director

1968Aged 27

  • Poster for Lucía

    Writer

1966Aged 25

  • Poster for Manuela

    Writer

1965Aged 24

  • Poster for El acoso

    Script

1963Aged 22

1962Aged 21