Nicolasito Guillen en la Memoria Zu Galeria

Nicolasito Guillen Landrian
el Ultimo Rebelde


Zu Galeria Fine Arts and Docs in Motion

Present


Documentary Nights

We cordially invite you to experience a night unlike any other. A night to celebrate the life and work of Cuban documentary filmmaker, poet and artist Nicolás Guillén Landrián.

April 15, 8pm
Zu Galeria Fine Arts
2248 SW 8th Street
Miami, Fl 33135
786-443-5872
www.zugaleria.blogspot.com



Photo courtesy of Nicolás Guillén Landrián's family

Nicolás Guillén Landrián (1938 in Camagüey, Cuba - July 23, 2003 in Miami, Florida) was an experimental Cuban filmmaker, painter and poet. Most of his documentaries were censured, apparently because he was not considered of the quality required to represent the Cuban Film Industry. Nephew of the poet Nicolas Guillen, he was also a painter and writer. Most of his films are still unknown in Cuba and even less in the world. He was sent to jail twice and also to a mental institution, where he was given electric shock treatment. Irreverent, experimental and in some ways sarcastic, some of his films have survived censorship.


Documentaries showing will be:

Inside Downtown (2001)
Subtitulos
A 30-minute look at homelessness which recreated life in this peculiar area of Miami. Filmmakers: Nicolas Guillen Landrian and Jorge Egusquiza Zorrilla

El fin pero no es el fin/The end but not the end
(2005, 21 min., color, Coincident Productions & Village Films)
A look at the life of cuban filmmaker, poet and artist Nicolás Guillén Landrián. Filmmakers:
Jorge Egusquiza Zorrilla and Victor Jimenez Sosa


Cost $5 per person

Live acoustic music by Fatkingbulla
Hosted by Lola
Refreshments by Harvest Delights

Sponsored by: Arquia Productions, Carla Projects, Harvest Delights and Zu Galeria Fine Arts.


About Docs in Motion: The mission of Docs in Motion screenings is to spotlight thriving local and international Latin American and Caribbean documentaries filmmakers and to enrich the American vision of Miami and the continent's social and cultural diversity.

Post
August 5, 2003

Nicolás Guillén Landrián

Nicolás Guillén Landrián, a painter and Cuban filmmaker who was once accused of trying to assassinate Fidel Castro, died on July 22 from pancreatic cancer. He was 65.

Although Guillén directed 18 documentaries and won several awards at film festivals in Europe, he was expelled from Cuba's Institute of Cinematography for making a movie that mocked the Cuban dictator. In the late 1960s, Guillén was accused of plotting to kill Castro. He was imprisoned for two years, then confined for nearly a decade to mental institutions where he was subjected to electroshock therapy.

Guillén left Cuba in 1989, moved to South Florida and became a painter. His artwork was exhibited at the former Cuban Museum of Art to sell-out crowds. But when he ran out of money, Guillén refused to take an ordinary job. Instead, he and his wife, Grettel Alfonso, ended up living on the streets. They bounced around the country, struggling to survive in dilapidated hotels.

Guillén eventually returned to Miami to produce the documentary, "Inside Downtown," a 30-minute look at homelessness. It was released last year.

IMDb
Mini Biography
Senior Landrián was an anti-communist Cuban filmmaker. Almost all of his documentaries were banned by the Cuban government since they were felt to be insulting of the dictator Fidel Castro. Because of his anti-Castro films, he was arrested by the Castro government. He was first arrested by the Castro government in 1968, for "plotting to assassinate Fidel Castro", and was held for 6 months under torture and interrogation. Then he was released when he failed to break. In 1970 to 1989, he was arrested numerous times for his anti-Castro documentaries. During this time he was once again interrogated and tortured, but refused to "confess". So he was repeatedly subjected to Electro Convulsive Therapy ("shock treatments"), without any anesthetic, but he still refused to confess to being anti-Castro. In 1989, he was able to escape Cuba and make his way to the freedom of the Miami, Florida Cuban community. He eventually died of cancer on the 23rd of July, 2003, at Mercy Hospital in Miami Florida. At his wife's request his body was returned to Cuba and he was buried at Colon Cemetery in his beloved Havana, Cuba. He was the nephew of Afro-Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Rev. Dr. John Benjamin Tatum, D.D., Ph.D.