By Franco Avicolli (ytali.com)

HAVANA TIMES – Miguel Coyula Aquino (born in Havana in 1977) is an independent director. This condition, regarded by the filmmaker and writer as a defining characteristic of his work, also makes him responsible for the screenplays, cinematography, and editing. According to him, the text must be visual; this suggests the rhythm, and the storyboard helps him remember how many shots he needs to film. For Coyula, handling the script, filming, editing, and music is not difficult when he is clear about rhythm and tone. This, in my opinion, expresses the essence of the director’s Cubanness, as he states: “Growing up in Cuba is incredible training for functioning anywhere in the world, because it teaches you to do a lot with nothing.”

His cinema is an invitation to reflection, a way of looking without complacency or assertiveness. It relies on the capacity of framing to convey meaning; it is a risky choice of a truth sought in the fragment, in deconstructed reality, linguistically proposed by the image conceived as an ideal suggestion for the viewer and intellectual coherence for the author.

Coyula is an “uncomfortable” figure, something indicated by the professional marginalization he faces in Cuba. This, however, does not deprive him of the freedom to screen his films at home or wherever possible, for a reasonable audience. Nor does it deprive him of the freedom to travel to give lectures, to participate in cinematic activities abroad with his tenacious and passionate partner, actress Lynn Cruz, or to accept the numerous international awards he receives. The director lives and works under an indifferent and watchful State which,........

© Havana Times