Humberto López y Guerra

Humberto López y Guerra
Born	Humberto López y Guerra (1945-08-12) 12 August 1945 Matanzas, Cuba
Occupation	screenwriter, film director, journalist and novelist
Nationality	Swedish-Cuban
Period	1960s–present
Notable awards	Journalist Awards 1973 (Radio Sweden), "Arrabal" an award-winner at the 1981 Prix Italia Festival, "The Evil Years" Nordvision Awards 1989
Website
uk.humbertolopezyguerra.com

Humberto Lopez y Guerra (born 1945) is a Swedish-Cuban director and novelist. He began his film career 1960 producing and directing a series of documentary films for the Cuban Institute of Art and Cinema, ICAIC. In 1963 he was given through election a scholarship to study film directing at the Cinema Superior School at Babelsberg Berlin,^[1] Germany. After graduating from Babelsberg's he returned to Cuba where he directed his film "Juventud 67" (Youth, 67). However, he went back to Europe in 1968 and he moved to Sweden.

In 1976 he directed his film "Federico Garcia Lorca: Death in Granada"^[2] produced by the Swedish Television. In October 1980 the New York Times described the transmission of the film by Spanish Television in June that same year as attracting "one of the largest audiences in the history of Spanish Television.^[3] In 1978 he directed two documentaries titled "Spain two years after Franco", produced for Swedish Television.^[4] In 1979 he directed "Arrabal",^[5] a documentary about the Spanish writer Fernando Arrabal. In 1981 this film represented Sweden in the international television festival Prix Italia. In 1980 he directed for Swedish Television his film "Det Langa Straffet" (The Sentence),^[6] about Huber Matos. The Sentence represented Sweden in Emmy Awards in New York in 1981.^[7] In 1987 he wrote and directed "Ondskans år"^[8] a TV film in three parts about Nazism in Sweden during the second world war. The film was very successful in Sweden. In 1989 received Nordvision award for best television series of the Nordic countries.^[9] In 1989 he wrote and directed "Castro's Cuba",^[10] TV series in three parts, which was exhibited in the United States, Latin America and Australia.^[11] The most complete TV series on Cuba that was done in those years.^[12]

In 2012, he published his first novel "The traitor from Prague" presented this year in cities like Madrid, Stockholm, New York and as well in the Miami International Book Fair (Nov. 2012). The Miami Herald calls the novel a milestone in the genre of espionage in the Spanish language literature.

Filmography

• He began his film career 1960 producing and directing a series of documentary films for the Cuban Institute of Art and Cinema, ICAIC.
• 1963 he was given through election a scholarship to study film directing at the Cinema Superior School at Babelsberg Berlin, Germany. While studying there he directed the short fiction film "Carlos".^[13] During his last year at school he concentrated on drama courses at the Berlin Ensemble.
• After graduating from Babelsberg’s Film School he returned to Cuba where he director his film Juventud 67,(Youth, 67).The film was banned by the Film Censorship in Cuba.
• 1969 he made his first film in Sweden "Choose your Hero",^[14] produced by Indra Film (Stockholm)and represent Sweden in the same year at the film festival in Pesaro, Italy. Experimental film on the different problems of the Swedish youth.
• 1973, he was photography in the film Rene Char produced by the Swedish Film Institute (SFI).
• 1976 he directed his film "Federico García Lorca: A Murder in Granada"^[2] produced by the Swedish Television. The film was shown in the United States by Channel 13 of New York in 1977^[15] and represented Sweden at the International Film Festival in Lille, France in that same year. It was shown at the Festival dei Populi at Florence, Italy in 1978 and in Barcelona the same year. In October 1980 the New York Times described the transmission of the film by Spanish Television in June that same year as attracting "one of the largest audiences in the history of Spanish Television".^[16]
• 1977 he directed a documentary about the Spanish Literature Nobel Prize Winner Vicente Aleixandre produced for Swedish Television.
• 1978 he directed two documentaries titled Spain two years after Franco produced for Swedish Television.
• 1979 he directed "Arrabal",^[5] a documentary about the Spanish writer Fernando Arrabal. In 1981 "Arrabal" represented Sweden at the Prix Italia Festival, which was produced in 1979 by Swedish Public Television SVT and was an award-winner.^[17]
• 1980 he directed for Swedish Television his film "Det Långa Straffet" (The Sentence)^[18] about Huber Matos. The Sentence represent Sweden in Emmy Award in New York in 1981.
• 1987 he wrote and directed "Ondskans år",^[10] (The Evil Years) a TV Film in tree parts about the Nazism in Sweden during the Second World War. The film had a great success in Sweden and the Nordic Countries. In 1989 received Nordvision award for best television series of the Nordic countries.^[9]
• 1987 he directed the (mini) TV series Vinnaren (Swedish Television)
• 1987 he directed the (mini) TV series Daghemmet Lyckan^[19] (Swedish Television)
• 1989 he directed the (mini) TV series Castro's Cuba.^[20] Castro´s Cuba Prod. Vega Film (Stockholm)

Screenplays

• 1968: Choose your Hero
• 1976: The Lorca Murder Case
• 1979: Arrabal
• 1980: The Sentence
• 1987: Ondskans ar, The Evil Years
• 1989: Castro´s Cuba
• 1989: The Democratic Terrorist with Jan Guillou, Swedish TV /Malmö
• 1993: Svea guesthouse, Swedish Film Institute

Novels

The Traitor from Prague (El Traidor de Praga)

In 2012 he published "The Traitor of Prague", ISBN 978-84-7962-738-6 a spy novel, Editorial Verbum SL, Madrid.

El Nuevo Herald (Miami) writes in the review signed by Manuel C. Diaz: «After the publication of this excellent novel, one cannot say that the genre of spy novels has no literary tradition in Spanish, it has just been born, and it is of Cuban origin».^[21]

Synopsis:

A thrilling novel that links Prague to Washington, South Yemen, Paris, Sitges, Madrid, Havana, Berlin, Geneva and Panama.

A plot in which fiction and historic facts mixed with real and fictional characters.

A story that reveals the secrets of international espionage and we'll never know for sure if it really happened, but all can be... In November 1989, major Paredes, second man of Cuban intelligence in Prague, decides passing top-secret information to CIA, amid the debacle of communist regimes of Eastern Europe. In Washington, this betrayal actitude causes doubt and skepticism, although Javier Puig, the Cuban-American spy that liaised with his old friend Paredes, is trying to convince Langley that it is not a Cuban provocation or infiltration, but the honest decision of a brave man, that is putting his own life at stake, about helping the Fidel Castro regime's fall. But Puig's own credibility is also questioned by hawks of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Lil, a radical German young student, Jewish descent, converted spy by the Cuban intelligence service, is the trigger that achieves that Americans finally accept as true the information in which Paredes is warning of a terrible terrorist attack: Cuba and agents of the European dying socialist field, grouped in an ultra secret organization, Solidarity International Command (SIC), are about to perpetrate.

Awards and selections

• 1974 Journalist Awards (Radio Sweden Tjänstemannaklubb).
• 1977 "Federico Garcia Lorca: Murder in Granada", Lille Festival, France and Festival dei Populi, Florence, Italy.
• 1978 "Arrabal", 22 International Film Week in Barcelona.
• 1981 "Arrabal": award-winner at the 1981 Prix Italia Festival.
• 1981 The Sentence (La Larga Condena) representing Sweden in the Emmy Awards in New York.
• 1989 "Odskans år" (The Evil Year). First Norvision prize for best television series of the Nordic countries.
• 2012 Invited to the Miami International Book Fair with his novel "The traitor from Prague".

References

External links

• Filmography, Awards, Biography