Miguel Coyula

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Miguel Coyula Aquino (born March 31, 1977 in Havana) is a Cuban filmmaker. At age 17, he made his first short with a VHS camcorder, which led to his admittance to the International Film School of San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba (EICTV). Since then he has won awards in his country with his short films Bailar Sobre Agujas (1999), Buena Onda, (1999), and Clase Z Tropical (2000).

In 2000, he traveled to the United States on an invitation from the Providence Latino Film Festival. While visiting New York, he met Anna Strasberg of the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute and after screening his thesis film was offered a scholarship. While attending the Strasberg Institute Coyula made his first feature, Red Cockroaches (2003), for less than $2000 over a two year period. The film was described by Variety as "a triumph of technology in the hands of a visionary with know-how..." Both it and his previous film The plastic fork (El tenedor plastico) won a number of awards.

His next project is Memorias del Desarrollo, a follow-up to the Cuban classic Memorias del Subdesarrollo (1968), based on the novel by Cuban writer Edmundo Desnoes.