Juan Padró was a Cuban cartoonist, illustrator, caricaturist, comic book artist, screenwriter, animator, and film director. He is the creator of Elpidio Valdés, an iconic animated character in 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, a time when he worked as a cartoonist for humor 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 animation 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 project that earned him fame and respect in the realm of animation both in Cuba and worldwide. Filminuto 1 is considered the first masterpiece of Cuban animation.
His international reputation as a filmmaker allowed him to gain the support of foreign companies, such as Televisión Española and Durnick Productions, to co-produce with ICAIC his third feature film, which was Vampiros en La Habana.
In 1985, Juan Padrón, in collaboration with the Argentine cartoonist Quino (Joaquín Lavado), brought to life a new project, the Quinoscopios, which is considered one of the classics of contemporary animation cinema in Latin America.
Juan Padrón was a member of the Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (UNEAC). Throughout his life, he received numerous awards and honors. Notably, these include 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 passed away in Havana on March 24, 2020, at the age of 73, after battling for twenty days against a respiratory condition.
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 Dwarf (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 Elpidio Valdés series
1977
- Elpidio Valdés is surrounded (98')
- The Brave (7')
- April Stories (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 path (8'40)
1979
- Elpidio Valdés (feature film) (70')
- Elpidio Valdés and the Rifle (6'20)
1980
- Elpidio Valdés against the gunboat (8'40)
- Filminuto 1 (6'13)
- Filminuto 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 the Summer Campaign (8')
- Elpidio Valdés attacks Jutía Dulce (8')
- Elpidio Valdés captured! (8')
- Filminutos XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII (5') (6') (5') (5')
1989
- Elpidio Valdés and Weyler's Grandmother (10')
- Elpidio Valdés and Palmiche against the Lancers (11')
- Filminuto XIX (6')
1990
- Filminutos 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 of 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'')
