Cartoonist, cartoonist and scriptwriter Juan Padrón (1947-2020) will be the subject of a permanent tribute at the 45th edition of the Havana International Festival of New Latin American Cinema (FINCL), which will begin on 5 December in Havana.

The work of the creator of the Cuban character Elpidio Valdés will be honoured through literature, with the presentation on 9 December of the work «De historietas y animaciones: la vida de Juan Padrón», by producer Aramís Acosta, according to Tania Delgado Fernández, director of the Festival.

This is a well-deserved tribute to an endearing creator, whose name lends prestige to the Latin American and Caribbean Animation Forum which, for the second year, will form part of the Festival’s programme, she commented.

This academic space, said Delgado Fernández, will take place from 9 to 12 December and will once again have animation as its protagonist.
On this occasion, some 15 projects selected from countries such as Brazil, Cuba, Argentina, El Salvador, Mexico, Colombia and Panama will receive advice during the forum, and there will be workshops, talks and panels on animation.

Allegorical to the figure of Juan Padrón and as a prelude to the Festival, two short films by the animated filmmaker Elpidio Valdés were restored, entitled «Una aventura de Elpidio Valdés» and «Elpidio Valdés contra el tren militar».

The Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry and the Colombian Film Heritage Foundation joined forces in this work that allowed the rescue of colours and forms lost after half a century of creation.

Juan Padrón left behind an important body of work in animation, including the well-remembered Vampiros en La Habana, Quinoscopio and Filminuto.
He was awarded the National Humour Prize in 2004 and the Film Prize in 2008.