He death of Cuban film director Juan Carlos Tabío, well-known in the early hours of this Monday, has sparked a barrage of reactions and comments on the social networks of institutions, artists and friends of the filmmaker.
“It is with great regret that we announce that Juan Carlos Tabío, a close friend, another legend of Cuban cinema, author of famous titles such as Se permuta, Plaff, Fresa y chocolate, Guantanamera and Waiting List, has passed away. Please offer our deepest condolences to your family, friends, filmmakers and relatives, ”wrote Iván Giroud, President of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema.
For his part, actor Albertico Pujol, who was commissioned by the director to work on the short film Dolly Back, posted his feelings on his Facebook account when he heard the news: “First of all, our lifelong neighbor, great man, friend and Great artist. Our deepest grief and our condolences to Ileana and her son Juan Manuel, our family are really sorry ”.
One of the foremost film directors in Cuba, expressed Cuban comedian Iván Camejo, highlighting his “enormous work” and highlighting his favorite film in Tabío’s filmography and of all Cuban cinema: The Elephant and the Bicycle. If there was no cinema up there, the first movie is about to be shot. May he rest in peace. Here are some posters of his best-known films. ‘
Director Juan Vilar (Juanpin) also wanted to announce his retirement from the filmmaker. In a post on his Facebook account, he shared his grief over the loss: “Saúl Yelín’s chair, José María Vitier’s piano and Luis García Mesa’s grief remain in a corner of Ocean Drive. Everything else, however deep, came later. He doesn’t need light for the path: he was the lamp, one of them, maybe the last. There is no single antique dealer in Cuban cinema who can fix it. ‘
“Juan Carlos always had a damning answer,” confirmed film director and friend Carlos Lechuga, recalling an interview asking Juan Carlos Tabío if he had never thought of making a historical film; to which he replied, “From what age? From this?”
“He took good charges when they tried to expel him from works he brought to life, movies like Fresa y Chocolate or Guantanamera. He took on a huge load when, with Guantanamera, Fidel Castro appeared on television to talk about the film and immediately a very insightful friend called him on the phone to ask for his opinion. Juan Carlos told me, but does this bastard think I’m going to tell him what I think over the phone? Lechuga said in his Facebook post.
Lechuga also shared memories of the director’s private life. According to his testimony, Tabío lived a bit on the fringes of the film world: “I don’t want to know anything about cinema”, Lechuga recalls when the director came to tell him. “He wanted to be calm. He was always proud of his son. I heard him say several times: we are a marriage of three.”
“In one of the films – Lechuga recalls – I was worth directing and I had to make sure he ate, but at lunch he sneaked into a nearby place to have a beer. Little by little, actors came to accompany him. Between two or three beers, Juan Carlos spoke the same about the barbarian invasions as about a sonata, of Iraq, of Cuban painters, in short. He was a civilized man. He had flaws, like everyone else, but his virtues were more ”.
In his opinion, he deserves to be “in the Olympus of the best Cuban comedy” with one of Tabío’s short films or with films like Se permuta or Plaff. According to Lechuga, it is pertinent to revisit The Elephant and the Bicycle: “There are many keys hidden in that work.”
“Juan Carlos Tabío is gone. My heart is crying! An exceptional man. Cuban film and culture are losing one of their great creators. I just have to say: Thank you Juanca, for your friendship, for all the moments we spent together., For the opportunities you gave me to make movies with you. A Great One is gone, “wrote Tahimí Alvariño, an actress who worked under Tabío’s direction in such films as The Horn of Plenty and Waiting List.
“One of the great filmmakers who has produced Cuba,” says director Ian Padrón, for whom films such as Dolly Back, Se permuta, Plaff, Fresa y Chocolate and Guantanamera are essential. “Enigmatic, humble and friendly,” reminded him of Juan Padrón’s son, who conveyed his condolences on behalf of the family.
Thais Valdés, Plaff’s lead actress, also expressed her feelings at the news: “I keep the best memories of the ever-young Tabío. I regret saying goodbye from a distance. A hug to all those who feel their chest like me today. . “
“Something terrible, nasty must happen. In less than a week, two great men were killed. First Enrique Pineda Barnet and today Juan Carlos Tabío,” said film critic Gustavo Arcos. “I don’t think so much about the works they left, but about the creative processes, the ideas they made possible. I don’t know, there is a way to be in it, a way to see the world, the country, the island, that “With their deaths we lost. They not only leave a void, but put us, more alone, in front of horror ”.
Likewise, several cultural institutions have echoed the news and expressed regret for the loss of one of the most recognizable filmmakers in Cuban filmography. The National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), the Hermanos Saíz Association or Casa de las Américas have made public their condolences for the death of the director.