{{short description|Cuban director and screenwriter}} {{Infobox person | name = Ernesto Daranas Serrano | image = DARANAS_2_comp_2.jpg | alt = Against a dark background, Daranas leans forward on a surface while speaking and holding a digital camera. | caption = Daranas in 2010 | other_names = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1961|12|07}} | birth_place = Havana, Cuba | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date) --> | death_place = | occupation = Filmmaker and screenwriter | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = {{bulleted list |Sergio & Sergei |Behavior |Fallen Gods| Bluechacha| Los últimos gaiteiros de La Habana}} }} '''Ernesto Daranas Serrano''' (born December 7, 1961) is a Cuban filmmaker. Daranas' three feature films have had unprecedented success in Cuba and were submitted to the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.<ref>{{Cite web|last=AV451|first=Redacción|date=2018-10-01|title=La coproducción participada por España 'Sergio & Serguéi', elegida por Cuba para la carrera al Oscar|url=https://www.audiovisual451.com/la-coproduccion-participada-por-espana-sergio-serguei-elegida-por-cuba-para-la-carrera-al-oscar/|access-date=2020-06-03|website=Audiovisual451|language=es}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Kilday|first=Gregg|date=9 October 2014|title=Oscars Attract Best Foreign-Language Film Submissions From a Record 83 Countries|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-attract-best-foreign-language-739698|access-date=2020-06-03|website=The Hollywood Reporter|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-06-02|title=Conducta|url=https://nwfilm.org/films/conducta/|access-date=2020-06-03|website=NW Film Center|language=en-US|archive-date=2020-06-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603211705/https://nwfilm.org/films/conducta/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Aguilera|first=Milene|date=2018-10-03|title=La película Sergio & Serguéi es la candidata cubana a los premios Oscar y Goya|url=https://vistarmagazine.com/sergio-serguei-la-pelicula-cubana-aspira-los-premios-oscar-goya/|access-date=2020-06-03|website=Vistar Magazine|language=es}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2009-09-18|title=Academy Awards: foreign language entries|url=https://www.screendaily.com/academy-awards-foreign-language-entries/5005879.article|access-date=2020-06-03|website=Screen Daily|language=en}}</ref> Daranas is a Latin Grammy nominee for Best Long Form Music Video and a recipient of the King of Spain Award. His filmography includes Sergio & Sergei (2017), starring Ron Perlman, and Behavior, often considered the greatest Cuban film of the 21st century.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://panamericanworld.com/revista/viajes-y-cultura/diez-mejores-peliculas-cubanas-todos-los-tiempos/|title = Las diez mejores películas cubanas de todos los tiempos|date = 26 October 2020}}</ref>
== Biography == Ernesto Daranas Serrano was born in Havana on December 7, 1961.
His father, Manuel Ángel Daranas Valdés (1934-2000) was an actor, teacher and writer who gained national recognition as the author of the adventure radio series ''La flecha de cobre'' (''The copper arrow''), an audience success that was on the air for nearly a decade in the late 1960s and early 1970s.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Cue Sierra|first=Mayra|date=2015-05-17|title=Manuel Ángel Daranas en el recuerdo|url=http://www.envivo.icrt.cu/miguel-angel-daranas-en-el-recuerdo/|access-date=2020-06-30|website=Envivo|language=es}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Mario Limonta Louit, orgullo de pueblo|url=http://www.radiocubana.cu/glosario-de-terminos-radiofonicos/32-historia-de-la-radio-cubana/memoria-radial-cubana/890-mario-limonta-louit-orgullo-de-pueblo|access-date=2020-06-30|website=Radiocubana|language=es-es|archive-date=2020-07-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703131956/http://www.radiocubana.cu/glosario-de-terminos-radiofonicos/32-historia-de-la-radio-cubana/memoria-radial-cubana/890-mario-limonta-louit-orgullo-de-pueblo|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Ernesto Daranas' beginnings as a storyteller took place in the radio<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|last=Sittón|first=Winnie T.|date=October 2019|title=Ernesto Daranas, a born storyteller|url=https://www.panorama2go.com/en/ernesto-daranas-a-born-storyteller/|access-date=2020-06-30|website=www.panorama2go.com}}</ref> while still a college student.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Rodríguez Tejeda|first=Yoel|date=2019-10-07|title=Ernesto Daranas: "I've never been censored, but it has happened to many people"|url=https://oncubanews.com/en/culture/cinema/ernesto-daranas-ive-never-been-censored-but-it-has-happened-to-many-people/|access-date=2020-06-30|website=OnCubaNews English|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web|last=Vargas|first=Andrew S.|date=2014-04-04|title=Ernesto Daranas, Director of Smash Hit 'Conducta' on Making Films in Cuba|url=https://remezcla.com/film/ernesto-daranas-director-of-smash-hit-conducta-on-making-films-in-cuba/|access-date=2020-07-02|website=Remezcla|language=en-US}}</ref> In 1983, he became a Bachelor in Geography at the Instituto Superior Pedagógico (now University of Educational Sciences).<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Universidad Pedagógica Enrique José Varona|url=https://university24k.com/es/u/3519|access-date=2020-06-30|website=University24K|language=es}}</ref>
In the early 90's, Daranas achieved recognition for his radio soap operas addressing contemporary Cuban society in the context of the Special Period.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Valladares|first=Sheyla|date=2013-01-27|title=When Ernesto Daranas was on the Radio|url=https://oncubanews.com/en/culture/when-ernesto-daranas-was-radio/|access-date=2020-06-30|website=OnCubaNews English|language=en-US}}</ref>
His directorial debut in television was in 1999–2000 with ''La tierra más hermosa'' (''The loveliest land''), a series of 12 documentaries co-directed with Rolando Almirante.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Armas Fonseca|first=Paquita|date=2005|title=¿De dónde son? De Almirante.|url=http://www.lajiribilla.co.cu/2005/n238_11/238_11.html|access-date=2020-06-30|website=La Jiribilla|archive-date=2008-04-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080427064415/http://www.lajiribilla.co.cu/2005/n238_11/238_11.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web|last=Armas Fonseca|first=Paquita|date=2015-05-31|title=Ernesto Daranas y Paquita Armas Fonseca conversan|url=https://cinecubanolapupilainsomne.wordpress.com/2015/05/31/ernesto-daranas-y-paquita-armas-fonseca-conversan/|access-date=2020-06-30|website=Cine cubano, la pupila insomne|language=es-ES}}</ref> The series explored various aspects of Cuban ethnography, culture, nature and history.
Subsequently, Daranas wrote and/or directed various films for television (see Filmography below) .
In 2004, he wrote and co-directed with Natasha Vázquez ''Los últimos gaiteiros de La Habana'' (''The last bagpipers of Havana''), a documentary about Eduardo Lorenzo, a nonagenarian Galician bagpiper who teaches young Cubans to play the instrument and returns to his native village in Spain after 50 years of absence.<ref>{{Citation|title=Los últimos gaiteros de La Habana (2004)|url=https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film960132.html|language=es|access-date=2020-07-01}}</ref> This documentary won the Premio Internacional de Periodismo Rey de España (2004 edition), a prestigious Iberoamerican journalism award.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Premios Rey de España|url=https://www.agenciaefe.es/premios-rey-espana/|access-date=2020-07-01|website=Agencia EFE|language=es}}</ref>
Also in 2004, Daranas wrote and directed the telefilm ''¿La vida en rosa?,'' a comedy about "the false barrier we sometimes raise between purportedly pure art and popular art".<ref name=":4" /> It won the Grand Prize and other six awards at the First National Television Festival of Cuba.<ref name=":1" />
''Los dioses rotos'' (''Fallen gods'') was Daranas' film directorial debut, in 2008. Daranas wrote a story, based on interviews he'd collected through the years,<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=2019-10-07|title=Ernesto Daranas: "I've never been censored, but it has happened to many people"|url=https://oncubanews.com/en/culture/cinema/ernesto-daranas-ive-never-been-censored-but-it-has-happened-to-many-people/|access-date=2020-07-21|website=OnCubaNews English|language=en-US}}</ref> about a university professor who gets involved in the underworld of prostitution and procuring. The film was made thanks to a fund for low budget projects<ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-04-04|title=Ernesto Daranas, Director of Smash Hit 'Conducta' on Making Films in Cuba {{!}} Film|url=https://remezcla.com/film/ernesto-daranas-director-of-smash-hit-conducta-on-making-films-in-cuba/|access-date=2020-07-21|website=Remezcla|language=en-US}}</ref> issued by the Ministry of Culture.<ref name=":2" /> It was shot in a digital format and later filmed-out.<ref name=":3" />
The film won the Audience Award and the Film Critics Association Award at the 30th Havana Film Festival.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Corales del 30 Festival de Cine de La Habana|url=http://www.granma.cu/granmad/2008/12/12/cultura/artic19.html|access-date=2020-07-21|website=www.granma.cu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=En la recta final los Premios Colaterales|url=http://www.granma.cu/granmad/2008/12/12/cultura/artic07.html|access-date=2020-07-21|website=www.granma.cu}}</ref> It became a box-office hit and the press called it "the biggest audiovisual event in Cuba of recent times"<ref>{{Cite web|title=Los dioses rotos, el mayor acontecimiento audiovisual en Cuba de los últimos tiempos|url=http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/cultura/2009-03-01/los-dioses-rotos-el-mayor-acontecimiento-audiovisual-en-cuba-de-los-ultimos-tiempos|access-date=2020-07-22|website=www.juventudrebelde.cu|language=es}}</ref> and "one of the best Cuban films after 2000".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Armas Fonseca|first=Paquita|date=2009|title=El tiempo dirá la última palabra|url=http://www.lajiribilla.co.cu/2009/n404_01/404_06.html|access-date=|website=La Jiribilla|archive-date=2019-11-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191120055442/http://www.lajiribilla.co.cu/2009/n404_01/404_06.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was Cuba's entry to the 82nd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2009-09-18|title=Academy Awards: foreign language entries|url=https://www.screendaily.com/academy-awards-foreign-language-entries/5005879.article|access-date=2020-07-22|website=Screen|language=en}}</ref>
In 2012, Daranas wrote and directed ''Bluechacha,'' a music EPK for Buena Vista Social Club's Manuel Galbán's last album.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2012-09-05|title=El disco Blue Cha Cha de Manuel Galván|url=https://oncubanews.com/cultura/el-disco-blue-cha-cha-de-manuel-galvan/|access-date=2020-07-22|website=OnCubaNews|language=es}}</ref> ''Bluechacha'' was nominated that year to the XIII Latin Grammy Award, in the category of Best Long-Form Music Video.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=XIII Latin Grammy Awards Nominations|url=http://www.latingrammy.com/en/winners/125|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121228190600/http://www.latingrammy.com/en/winners/125|archive-date=2012-12-28|access-date=|website=Latin Grammy Awards}}</ref>
Arguably, it was ''Behavior'' (''Conducta''), released in 2014, the film that garnered Daranas widespread international recognition.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" />
The film tells the story of Chala, an 11-year-old boy who supports his alcoholic and drug addict mother by breeding pigeons and training fighting dogs. When his loving teacher Carmela falls ill and is temporarily replaced by an inexperienced young teacher, Chala is dispatched to a school for children with behavioral problems.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-12-01|title=Conducta: Ernesto Daranas's smash hit » LaHabana.com|url=http://www.lahabana.com/content/conducta-ernesto-daranass-smash-hit/|access-date=2020-07-23|website=LaHabana.com|language=en-US|archive-date=2020-07-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200723165031/http://www.lahabana.com/content/conducta-ernesto-daranass-smash-hit/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
The film premiered in February 2014 in Havana and then played at the Málaga Film Festival,<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=March 2014|title=Palmarés oficial del 17 Festival de Málaga|url=https://festivaldemalaga.com/Content/source/pdf/ediciones/20170314131324_17fmce_asi_fue.pdf|access-date=|website=Festival de Málaga Cine Español}}</ref> before having its US premieres simultaneously at the Chicago Latino Film Festival and Havana Film Festival New York in April 2014.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web|last=Feinstein|first=Howard|date=2014-04-13|title=Behavior (review)|url=http://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-latest/behaviour/5070699.article|access-date=|website=Screen Daily}}</ref> ''Behavior'' was then screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Cipriani|first=Casey|date=2014-08-12|title=TIFF Adds 'Clouds of Sils Maria' and 'Two Days, One Night,' Reveals 5 More Lineups|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2014/08/tiff-adds-clouds-of-sils-maria-and-two-days-one-night-reveals-5-more-lineups-23247/|access-date=2020-07-22|website=IndieWire|language=en}}</ref> It was selected as the Cuban entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Harvey|first=Dennis|date=2015-01-16|title=Film Review: 'Behavior'|url=https://variety.com/2015/film/reviews/film-review-behavior-1201404651/|access-date=2020-07-22|website=Variety|language=en}}</ref>
The film went on to be screened in many festivals around the world and won many accolades, including a Goya nomination.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Spain's Goya Awards Unveils Nominations|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/2015-goya-awards-nominations-761533|access-date=2020-07-23|website=The Hollywood Reporter|language=en}}</ref>
In 2017, ''Sergio and Sergei'' was released, a comedy set in Cuba in 1991, describing the vicissitudes in the friendship between a Cuban ham radio enthusiast and a Soviet cosmonaut, trapped in the Mir space station during the USSR collapse.
The film was a co-production between Cuba, Spain and the United States. At the time, the press called it the first Cuba-USA narrative co-production in over 50 years,<ref>{{Cite web|last= Fleming|first=Mike Jr.|date=2016-10-06|title=Ron Perlman On Shooting First Cuban/American Co-Production In Decades, With 'Sergio And Sergei'|url=https://deadline.com/2016/10/ron-perlman-sergio-and-sergei-first-cuban-american-co-production-in-decades-1201831828/|access-date=2020-07-23|website=Deadline}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Rodríguez|first=Andrés|date=2016-10-25|title=The Cuban-American thaw reaches outer space|url=https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2016/10/24/inenglish/1477316029_592013.html|access-date=2020-07-23|website=EL PAÍS|language=en}}</ref> by virtue of the presence of actor Ron Perlman in the movie and his involvement in its distribution through his indie production company Wing and a Prayer Pictures.
The film was selected as the Cuban entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards.<ref>{{Cite web|last=AV451|first=Redacción|date=2018-10-01|title=La coproducción participada por España 'Sergio & Serguéi', elegida por Cuba para la carrera al Oscar|url=https://www.audiovisual451.com/la-coproduccion-participada-por-espana-sergio-serguei-elegida-por-cuba-para-la-carrera-al-oscar/|access-date=2020-07-23|website=Audiovisual451|language=es}}</ref> However, it was not on the final list of submitted films released by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in October 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-10-08|title=87 COUNTRIES IN COMPETITION FOR 2018 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OSCAR|url=https://www.oscars.org/news/87-countries-competition-2018-foreign-language-film-oscar|access-date=2020-07-23|website=Oscars.org {{!}} Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|language=en}}</ref>
In a poll conducted by Cinema Tropical (the New York-based non-profit media arts organization), both ''Behavior'' and ''Sergio and Sergei'' were included among the 100 most significant Latin-American films of the 2010-2019 decade.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The 10 Best Latin American Films of the Decade (2010-2019)|url=https://www.cinematropical.com/10-best-films|access-date=2020-07-23|website=Cinema Tropical|language=en-US}}</ref>
In 2019, Daranas directed the documentary ''Natalia,'' about the noted Cuban ethnographer and writer Natalia Bolívar Aróstegui.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-08-15|title="Natalia", el nuevo documental de Ernesto Daranas|url=https://oncubanews.com/cultura/cine/natalia-el-nuevo-documental-de-ernesto-daranas/|access-date=2020-07-23|website=OnCubaNews|language=es}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Infante|first=Rubén Ricardo|date=2019-08-22|title=Las muchas vidas de Natalia Bolívar|url=http://www.lajiribilla.cu/articulo/las-muchas-vidas-de-natalia-bolivar|access-date=2020-07-23|website=La Jiribilla|language=es}}</ref>
== Filmography == ===Feature films=== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title !width=65| Director !width=65| Writer |- | 2008 || ''Los dioses rotos'' || {{yes}} || {{yes}} |- |2014 || ''Behavior'' || {{yes}} || {{yes}} |- |2015 || ''La emboscada'' || {{no}} || {{yes}} |- |2017 || ''Sergio and Sergei'' || {{yes}} || {{yes}} |- |}
===Documentaries=== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title !width=65| Director !width=65| Writer ! Notes |- | 2000 || ''La tierra más hermosa'' || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || Series of 12 documentaries. Co-directed with Rolando Almirante.<ref name=":1" /> |- |2003 || ''Ana y las cotorras'' || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || Co-directed with Randol Menéndez.<ref>{{Cite web|last=González Romero|first=Mileidys|date=14 August 2015|title=Randolph Menéndez siempre se inclinó por la naturaleza|url=http://www.tvcubana.icrt.cu/secciones/seccion-entre-tu-y-yo/1799-randolph-men%C3%A9ndez-siempre-se-inclin%C3%B3-por-la-naturaleza|access-date=2020-07-02|website=Televisión Cubana|language=es-es}}</ref> |- |2004 || ''Los últimos gaiteiros de La Habana'' || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || Co-directed with Natasha Vázquez. Original idea by Rigoberto Senarega. |- |2005 || ''Fillas de Galicia'' || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || Co-directed with Natasha Vázquez.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Se estrena el documental Fillas de Galicia que retrata los años más duros de la emigración de una gallega en Cuba {{!}} Xuventude Galega {{!}} Juventud Gallega|url=http://xuventude.galiciadigital.com/noticia/1684|access-date=2020-07-02|website=xuventude.galiciadigital.com|language=gl}}</ref> |- |2009 || ''Peregrinos'' || {{yes}} || {{yes}} ||<ref>{{Cite web|title=Peregrinos se estrena en La Habana - Xunta de Galicia|url=https://emigracion.xunta.gal/es/actualidad/noticia/peregrinos-se-estrena-la-habana-y-acerca-las-dos-peregrinaciones-mas-importantes}}</ref> |- |2011 || ''2, con Omara y Chucho'' (Music EPK) || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || |- |2012 || ''Bluechacha'' (Music EPK) || {{yes}} || {{yes}} ||<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=April 2018|title=Yale MacMillan Center -Latino and Iberian Film Festival|url=https://liffy.yale.edu/clais-film-series/spring-2018-film-series|access-date=2020-07-02|website=Yale MacMillan Center}}</ref> |- |2019 || ''Natalia'' || {{yes}} || {{yes}} ||<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2019-08-20|title=Life, Work of Natalia Bolivar Summarized in a Documentary|url=http://www.radiohc.cu/en/interesantes/caleidoscopio/199495-life-work-of-natalia-bolivar-summarized-in-a-documentary|access-date=2020-07-02|website=Radio Havana Cuba|language=en|archive-date=2020-07-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703045435/http://www.radiohc.cu/en/interesantes/caleidoscopio/199495-life-work-of-natalia-bolivar-summarized-in-a-documentary|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-08-15|title="Natalia", el nuevo documental de Ernesto Daranas|url=https://oncubanews.com/cultura/cine/natalia-el-nuevo-documental-de-ernesto-daranas/|access-date=2020-07-02|website=OnCubaNews|language=es}}</ref> |}
===Films for television=== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title !width=65| Director !width=65| Writer ! Notes |- | 2002 || ''Un cuento de camino'' || {{no}} || {{yes}} || Directed by Paco Anca |- |2003 || ''El hombre de Venus'' || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || Co-directed with Charlie Medina.<ref name=":4" /> |- |2003 || ''El otro'' || {{no}} || {{yes}} || Directed by Charlie Medina. |- |2004 || ''¿La vida en rosa?'' || {{yes}} || {{yes}} ||<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=del Río|first=Joel|date=January 2009|title=Impenitente celebración de buen cine|url=http://www.lajiribilla.co.cu/2009/n404_01/404_17.html|access-date=2020-07-02|website=La Jiribilla|archive-date=2019-11-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191120034700/http://www.lajiribilla.co.cu/2009/n404_01/404_17.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> |- |2010 || ''Knepp'' || {{no}} || {{yes}} || Adapted screenplay from the play by Jorge Goldenberg. Directed by Charlie Medina.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2019-12-17|title=Cartelera de la TV cubana|url=http://bohemia.cu/cultura/2019/12/cartelera-de-la-tv-cubana-882/|access-date=2020-07-02|website=Bohemia|archive-date=2020-07-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702222846/http://bohemia.cu/cultura/2019/12/cartelera-de-la-tv-cubana-882/|url-status=dead}}</ref> |- |}
== See also == * ''Behavior'' (2014 film) * ''Sergio and Sergei'' (2017 film) * Cuban cinema * List of Cuban submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Daranas, Ernesto}} Category:1961 births Category:Living people Category:Cuban film directors Category:Cuban screenwriters Category:Cuban male screenwriters