Juan Padrón

Juan Padró was a Cuban cartoonist, illustrator, caricaturist, comic book artist, screenwriter, animator, and director. He is the creator of Elpidio Valdés, an iconic animated character of Cuban culture.

Juan Manuel Padrón Blanco (Juan Padrón) was born in the municipality of Jovellanos, Matanzas, on January 29, 1947.

He graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Art History from the University of Havana in 1978. However, he began his artistic career around 1963, at which time he worked as a cartoonist for humorous comics in the magazine Mella and in El Sable, a supplement of the magazine Juventud Rebelde.

His most famous character was Elpidio Valdés, who first appeared in the magazine Pionero in 1970. Four years later, Juan Padrón began his career as an animated film director at the Cuban Institute of Art and Cinematographic Industry (ICAIC).

He made his first feature film in 1979. It was the movie Elpidio Valdés. A year later, he started his series Filminuto (1980), another of the projects that brought him fame and respect in the world of animation both in Cuba and internationally. Filminuto 1 is considered the first masterpiece of Cuban animation.

His international prestige as a filmmaker allowed him to secure support from foreign companies, such as Televisión Española and Durnick Productions, to co-produce his third feature film with the ICAIC, which was Vampiros en La Habana.

In 1985, Juan Padrón, in collaboration with the Argentine humorist Quino (Joaquín Lavado), brought to life a new project, the Quinoscopios, included among the classics of contemporary animated cinema in Latin America.

Juan Padrón was a member of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC). Throughout his life, he received multiple awards and decorations. Among them, the Alejo Carpentier medal (1988), the Juan Gualberto Gómez journalism award (1989), the Juan Marinello order (1999), the Félix Varela order (2001), the National Humorism Award of Cuba (2004), the National Film Award of Cuba (2008), the El Diablo Cojuelo award, and eight Coral Awards from the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema.

He died in Havana on March 24, 2020, at the age of 73, after battling a respiratory condition for twenty days.

Filmography of Juan Padrón:

1974

• An adventure of Elpidio Valdés (6'40)
• Elpidio Valdés against the military train (8'10)
• The Chair (5'11)
• Horologium: which means clock (6'23)
• Velocipedia (6'15)
• My Scarf (6')

1975

• The Machete (6'45)
• The dirty little person (5'15)
• Tabey (7'51)
• Aerodynamics (6'20)

1976

• Clarín Mambí (8'06)
• Zip Xerep (5'15)
• Elpidio Valdés ambushes the convoy (8'02)
• Elpidio Valdés against the New York police (7'06)
• The hands
• The series of Elpidio Valdés

1977

• Elpidio Valdés is surrounded (98')
• The Brave (7')
• Stories of April (7'29)
• Elpidio Valdés meets Palmiche (7'26)

1978

• Titi's Dream (5'42)
• Elpidio Valdés against the rayadillos (7'44)
• Elpidio Valdés forces the shortcut (8'40)

1979

• Elpidio Valdés (feature film) (70')
• Elpidio Valdés and the rifle (6'20)

1980

• Elpidio Valdés against the gunboat (8'40)
• Filminute 1 (6'13)
• Film minute 2 (6')
• Battle against agent Mil-80 (7'06)
• The question (8'11)

1981

• N'vula (9'26)
• Film minute 3 (6')

1982

• Long live daddy! (5'34)

1983

• Elpidio Valdés against the dollar and cannon (80')
• Celedonio (7'30)

1985

• Vampires in Havana (75')
• Quinoscope I (6')

1986

• Quinoscopes II (6')

1987

• Quinoscopes III, IV, V, VI (6') (6') (6') (6')
• Kolia (7')

1988

• Elpidio Valdés in summer campaign (8')
• Elpidio Valdés attacks Jutía Dulce (8')
• Elpidio Valdés captured! (8')
• Film minutes XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII (5') (6') (5') (5')

1989

• Elpidio Valdés and Weyler's grandma (10')
• Elpidio Valdés and Palmiche against the lancers (11')
• Filminuto XIX (6')

1990

• Filminutes XX, XXI, XXII (6') (6') (5')
• The Mushroom Party (7')

1991

• Diana Elpidio Valdés
• Elpidio Valdés gets married (9')

1992

• Elpidio Valdés meets Fito (7')
• Elpidio Valdés and the inventors (8')

1993

• Mafalda (80')

1995

• More was lost in Cuba (series 6 episodes) (156')

1996

• Against the Eagle and the Lion (78')

1996 to 2002

• Cineclips - Juan Padrón (300 of 30 seconds)

2003

• More Vampires in Havana (80')

2009

• Nikita Chama Boom (7'')