Argentine filmmaker wins International Award "Tomás Gutiérrez Alea"

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 10 (ACN) Argentine filmmaker and documentarist Tristán Bauer, jury member of the 45th International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, currently under way in Havana, received the International Award "Tomás Gutiérrez Alea" from the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC) in recognition of his achievements, civic commitment, political militancy, and work as a public servant seeking to strengthen the identity of the peoples of Latin America.

In statements to the press, Bauer said that the award is revealing of his brotherhood with Cuba, since “I am bonded to this land since I was born in 1959 and to its cinema, which boasts so many extraordinarily valuable creators and artists”, and recalled the creation of the New Latin American Cinema Foundation, the brainchild of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz and Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez, who also promoted the opening of the International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños.


He remarked that he made the acquaintance of Tomás “Titón” Gutiérrez Alea, director of Memories of Underdevelopment, “whose sharp and profound thinking does credit to the International Award named after him”.

Cuban audiovisual producer Waldo Ramírez praised Bauer's career in moviemaking is a beautiful example of his dialogue with his time, stories and characters.

“In the face of so much junk, the founder of Canal Encuentro and former Argentine Minister of Culture proposes an open work”, he pointed out. “In the midst of the neoliberalism of chainsaws, and the rise of artificial intelligence, information and communication technologies and the dictatorship of data, Bauer offers a return to our roots”.

Tristán Bauer has made documentaries about Latin American issues, including Cortázar (1994), Los libros y la noche (1999) and Tierra arrasada (2019), as well as films such as Después de la tormenta (1991) and Iluminados por el fuego, winner of the Special Jury Prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival and the Goya for Best Spanish-language foreign film, both in 2005.