DATA OF INTEREST

GUEST:
JORGE DALTON

HOST:
ANAELI IBARRA


Synopsis:

A conversation with the Salvadoran-Cuban filmmaker Jorge Dalton, son of the poet Roque Dalton. Jorge shares his memories of his father´s political trajectory, which led him to take his family to Cuba in 1967 when Fidel Castro and Haydée Santamaría invited him to work at Casa de las Americas. Jorge speaks about his own life on the island and his disenchantment with the revolutionary process, his flight from the country and his ties to the exile community. His testimony reconstructs part of the cultural history of the island following 1959, in particular the period between 1986-1992, and the censorship policies of the Instituto Cubano de Radio y Televisión (Cuban Radio and Television Institute), for which he worked until 1992, when he was expelled and condemned by the Council of State.

Bio:

Jorge Dalton
Cuban-Salvadoran Documentary Filmmaker
Film and Television Producer and Director

Jorge Dalton is considered one of Central America´s foremost film authorities. He is one of the most prominent contemporary documentary filmmakers of the Central American and Caribbean region. A former student of the Argentinean filmmaker Fernando Birri and the Cuban documentary filmmaker Santiago Álvarez, Dalton is founder of the Escuela Internacional De Cine y Televisión de San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba (EICTV) and was one of the most prominent producers at Televisión Cubana between 1988 and 1992.

Dalton directed various television projects and taught documentary workshops during his time at the Film School of the University of Guadalajara, Mexico, from 1994-1995. He currently resides in El Salvador and serves as the Director of Film and Audiovisuals for the Salvadoran Ministry of Culture. He worked to create the Cinemateca Nacional de El Salvador and the Instituto Nacional de Cinematografía de El Salvador (INCINE). He has been a key player in the contemporary film and audiovisual panorama in both El Salvador and the rest of the Central American region. His documentaries have been selected to participate in countless competitions at the international level and he has won various awards and recognitions.

He has received the CORAL award granted by the Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano (Havana, Cuba); the RAL prize (Red de Televisoras de América Latina) for his documentary “Herido de Sombras”; the Audience Award at the Festival Centroamericano in Viena, Austria; the Premio Festival Centroamericano ICARO for his documentary “Entre Los Muertos”; the Premio Cadiz-Doc, Spain; Grand Prize for Best Experimental Film at the Festival de Cine Pobre, Gibara, Cuba; Grand Prize for Best Experimental Film Video at the Film Festival San Francisco Mission Cultural Center for “Cuando yo soñaba un mundo al revés”. He has been awarded the Cinergia grant (Costa Rica) twice. His films have been selected for the IBERMEDIA TV and IBERMEDIA DIGITAL programs.

His work has enjoyed solo showings in the United States, Latin America and Europe. He has been a member of the jury of the Festival Internacional de Cine Latino de New York in 1991, of the documentary jury of the 25 Festival Internacional de Guadalajara, Jalisco, México in 2010 and of the Festival ICARO, Guatemala in 2011.

VIDEO

Los hijos de papá: Jorge Dalton

PODCAST