MIAMI, United States. – The director, editor and sound engineer Jonal Cosculluela, 47, died in Havana this October 28, according to reported on his Facebook profile the film critic Juan Antonio García.
“Cuban cinema loses another young and talented director. “The death of someone always hurts, but much more when there is a long way to go,” said the critic. Referring to his most recognized work, he added: “With Stephen (2015), Jonal Cosculluela had already shown his credentials. Lots of light. We have his cinema left.”
García did not specify the cause of the filmmaker’s death. So far, neither the official media nor Cuban cultural institutions have referred to the artist’s death.
Born in 1977 in the Cuban capital, Cosculluela studied Directing at the Higher Institute of Art (ISA), from which he graduated in 2010. He had begun his career collaborating with the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT)9. Between 1999 and 2009, he worked as a sound engineer and editor on fiction and documentary series. Starting in 2009, he dedicated himself to directing fiction series and teleplays for the Cuban Televisionin addition to undertaking independent productions.
His film debut came in 2015 with the fiction feature film Stephenwhich earned him multiple recognitions. The film won the jury prize and the audience prize at the 42nd Ibero-American Film Festival of Huelva, as well as three collateral prizes awarded by RTVE, the IES Pablo Neruda and the Orquesta Vita Música. At the 38th International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana, Stephen He received the UNICEF award and the Vigía award.
Cosculluela was also awarded the Caracol prize for debut work awarded by the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), of which he was a member. In addition, it received recognition from the Cuban Association of the Cinematographic Press (ACPC), national affiliate of the International Federation of the Cinematographic Press (FIPRESCI).
Some of his most relevant works are:
- Magic (1999), under the pseudonym Jonathan C.S.
- Hasdrubal (2008)
- Room for Rent (2010), also as Jonathan C.S.
- High contrast (2010)
- the first time (2011), by Richard Abella (edition)
- So that you know things as they are (2017)
- Hugs will return (2021), co-directed with Maritza Ceballos
- Isolated (2022), general production with Yoe Pérez, Zenia Veigas, Maritza Ceballos and Sailín Carbonell
- Voices of 1912 (2014)
