To Esteban

Directors:

Writers:

Héctor Almeida

Producers:

Genesis Almeida

Run Time:

0:16:52

Awarded for the following Category(s):

Awarded Category(s)

Gregorio, Dolores and Zoila are three elders excited about the arrival of a new member to the family; Esteban, their great-grandson. Through the memories of their ancestors, they narrate themes of loneliness, love, union, loss, and hope. They search through their belongings for a special gift to leave to a future Esteban, who may never know them as an adult. The short film itself is a gift that will make them endure in their family history.

Submitter Statement

The birth of my nephew Esteban in the middle of the pandemic made me realize how little information I had about my grandparents and their ancestors. I felt that they would die soon even though they had not been infected with COVID. All my life I thought I would dedicate it to editing, but just at that moment I realized that I had to make a very special gift for my nephew. The short film is that gift. A gift that will make my grandparents last in immortality and from there my nephew when he grows up will be able to remember them and know about them and the importance they had in my life.

Héctor Almeida, born January 28, 1995, in Güines, Mayabeque, Cuba, is a filmmaker, editor, and actor of audiovisuals and theater. Since childhood, he was linked to the municipal theater company "Theatrón Lunático" where he played several characters in plays by William Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde, but his performance in the play "Dos Viejos Pánicos" by Virgilio Piñera stood out; his work was recognized in several national theater festivals. He started in video editing at a young age working for social events such as weddings and quinces, but when he moved to the capital he worked for 7 years in the media, working for national and international television channels such as Canal Habana, Cubavisión, and teleSUR. She also worked in the university channel of the Faculty of Communication "Canal Nexos" of the University of Havana. In 2019 he was part of the theater company "Jazz Vilá Projects" and made two music video clips: "Ferminia" by Dúo Saudade, "y el ángel tocó la séptima trompeta" by composer Daniel Toledo Guillén. Edited in 2021 the documentary thesis "Jinetes", is about the treatment with equine-assisted therapy for children with autism spectrum disorders and West syndrome. Collaborated in 2022 with the tobacco company EGM Cigars in the editing and post-production of "El Encanto", a promotional short film. He has edited two short films by filmmaker Mel Chikoc, "The Same Shoes" and "Finally an Aspiration", from 2022 and 2023 respectively. He premiered his debut as a filmmaker with the documentary short film "Para Esteban" in July 2023, winning the Funespaña Award granted by the International Film Festival "Visualízame en tu memoria" and has accumulated to date 30 international selections, being screened in countries such as Mexico, Thailand, Slovenia, France, Colombia, among others. He edited three feature films that are about to be released; "A Journey Through Cuban Music", a musical documentary by Grammy winner Aymée Nuviola, "No dejes que te olvide", a biopic documentary directed by Lester Hamlet, and "DIENTEPERRO", a fiction debut film directed by Daniel Santoyo, winner of the ICAIC Film Development Fund. He is currently in the early development stage with his first feature documentary "La Película de Héctor".

Key Cast

Other Credits

Original Score: Daniel Torres Corona; Cinematography: Alex Deben, Sabrina Molina Lunar