Solas Borrego, Humberto

▪ 2009

      Cuban film director and screenwriter

born Dec. 4, 1941, Havana, Cuba

died Sept. 17, 2008, Havana

was a 14-year-old guerrilla in the Cuban Revolution (1959) led by Fidel Castro to overthrow dictator Fulgencio Batista; after Castro's victory Solás became a prominent filmmaker, chronicling the Cuban peoples' struggles, especially those of women and homosexuals, under Castro's rule. Solás studied at the University of Havana and joined (1960) the newly formed Cuban Institute of Cinematography Arts and Industry (ICAIC). He rocketed to fame with his direction of the black-and-white Manuela (1966), the poignant story of a young woman who joins a band of revolutionaries and dies in the arms of her lover. His masterpiece, Lucia (1968), which he wrote and directed, chronicled the stories of three women of that name during three distinct pivotal periods in Cuban history. Other credits include Simpareléa (1974), La Cantata de Chile (1975), Cecilia (1982), and Un hombre de éxito (1985; A Successful Man). Starting with Miel para Oshún (2001; Honey for Oshun), Solás began shooting films with a hand-held digital camera. In 2003, in an effort to showcase his low-budget films shot mostly with digital cameras, he established the International Festival of Poor Cinema in the fishing village of Gibara, Holguin province.

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