Miguel Coyula

Miguel Coyula Aquino (born March 31, 1977, in Havana) is a Cuban filmmaker and writer. Working with a multi-disciplinary approach, his films usually take several years to complete. He has been described by critics as a virtuoso^[1] and an innovator.^[2] The multi-layered narratives of his films often deal with alienation, they contain graphic depictions of sexuality, and frontal criticism of society and politicians. The controversial nature of his work has resulted in the banning of his work in Cuba, although it has also suffered censorship in Argentina,^[3] Belarus, Morocco, and Beirut.^[4] The press usually refers to him as the enfant terrible of Cuban Cinema.^[5]

At age 17, he made his first short with a VHS camcorder, which led to his admittance to Escuela Internacional de Cine y Television (The International Film and Television School) of San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. In 2001, he received a scholarship at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. While attending the Strasberg Institute, Coyula made his first feature, Red Cockroaches (2003), for less than $2000 over a two-year period. The film was described by Variety as "a triumph of technology in the hands of a visionary with know-how..."^[6] The film won over twenty awards in film festivals around the world.

In 2009, Coyula was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship by The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for developing his second feature, the film Memories of Overdevelopment (2010), a follow-up to the Cuban classic Memorias del Subdesarrollo (1968), based on the novel by Cuban writer Edmundo Desnoes. After its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, the film garnered several awards and honors. The International Film Guide described it as one of the best films Cuba has produced.^[7] In 2013 La Pereza Ediciones published his first novel Mar Rojo, Mal Azul. From 2015 to the 2016 he produced the web Series Rafael Alcides and the documentary feature Nobody (2017) which won the Best Documentary award at the Global Film Festival in Santo Domingo. His latest feature Blue Heart (2021), was filmed over ten years in Havana, premiered at the Moscow International Film Festival and won the Hollywood Foreign Press Association award at the Guadalajara International Film Festival. Cineaste described the film as "...the culminating point of Coyula's artistic growth. It stands as his most visceral experience..." ^[8]

His second novel, La Isla Vertical was published in 2022 by Ediciones Deslinde in Madrid.