born Dec. 11, 1928, Havana, Cuba
died April 16, 1996, Havana
Cuban film director.
After earning a law degree in Cuba, he studied filmmaking in Rome (1951–53). A supporter of Fidel Castro , he helped develop Cuba's film industry after 1959 and made the Communist regime's first official feature film, Stories of the Revolution (1960). Later he worked within the restrictions of the regime to satirize and explore various aspects of life in postrevolutionary Cuba in such internationally acclaimed films as Death of a Bureaucrat (1966), Memories of Underdevelopment (1968), The Survivors (1978), and Strawberry and Chocolate (1993). He is regarded as the finest director Cuba has produced.