Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, known as Titón to Cubans, was a filmmaker born in Havana on December 11, 1928. He passed away on April 16, 1996, in his hometown.
He graduated from the University of Havana with a degree in Law (1951). In 1953, he completed his studies at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematographia in Rome, where, alongside Julio García Espinosa, he filmed his first medium-length documentary, El Mégano, about the charcoal workers in the Ciénaga de Zapata. His early works were primarily humorous short films and documentary feature films.
Alongside other artists of his time, he founded the Cuban Institute of Arts and Cinematographic Industry (ICAIC), of which he was a member of the board of directors until 1961. Influenced by the Italian neorealism school and his own beliefs, Titón, as he was nicknamed, believed in the role of cinema, and art in general, as tools in service of the Cuban Revolution, and saw the viewer as an active participant, a critic, rather than a mere indoctrinated consumer. The film *Esta Tierra Nuestra* was the first documentary made after the revolutionary victory. He was part of a group of producers, artists, and creators who, during the 1960s and 70s, witnessed the birth of the movement known as New Latin American Cinema, which aimed to break away from American and European film models and advocated for a unique, continental cinema that addressed Latin American reality and would create its own genres and stars.
He was a founding member of the UNEAC (National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba).
His film Los sobrevivientes competed at the Cannes Film Festival after premiering a few months earlier in Havana.
He was the husband of the well-known Cuban actress Mirta Ibarra, who stars in some of her productions.
In 1993, together with Juan Carlos Tabío, he directed his most international film: Fresa y Chocolate, based on the short story by Senel Paz, El lobo, el bosque y el hombre nuevo. Fresa y Chocolate is the only Cuban film that has received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film (1994). It was also nominated for the Goyas as Best Foreign Film and won the award.
Filmography:
Little Red Riding Hood (1947, short film)
The Fakir (1947, short film)
A Daily Confusion (1950, short film)
Giovanni Bassain's Dream (1953)
The Mégano (1955, documentary in collaboration with Julio García Espinosa, Alfredo Guevara, José Massip)
The Capture of Havana by the English (1958, documentary)
This Land of Ours (1959, documentary)
Stories of the Revolution (1960, the first feature film of fiction by ICAIC)
General Assembly (1960, documentary)
Death to the Invader (1961)
The Twelve Chairs (1962)
Cumbite (1964)
Death of a Bureaucrat (1966)
Memories of Underdevelopment (1968)
A Cuban Fight Against Demons (1971)
The Art of Tobacco (1974, documentary)
The Last Supper (1976)
Certainly (1977)
The Survivors (1979)
Up to a Certain Point (1983)
Letters from the Park (1988)
With You in the Distance (1991)
Strawberry and Chocolate (1993, co-directed with Juan Carlos Tabío)
Guantanamera (1995, co-directed with Juan Carlos Tabío)
