Rafael de la Uz: A Story to Be Told
Portraying the life experiences of his son as he adapts to his new home in Homer, is what Rafael de la Uz, award-winning filmmaker, and photographer, enjoys and demonstrates with documentary photography.
“I like to tell stories, in real places and with real people. My photos are not decorative, I do not focus on the visual value of the image. I get closer to literature than to the visual arts,” said de la Uz. His exhibition of Homer portraits took place at the Bunnell Street Arts Center last November, thanks to the support of the Rasmuson Foundation. De la Uz - born in Havana, Cuba - drove, along with his family, from Washington D.C. to Homer with the idea of staying two months and has now been residing in the Halibut Fishing Capital of the World for three years. “My wife has a sister who lives in Homer, and we decided to visit her during Covid times, since her children had the freedom to go outdoors and not be confined at home. My children liked the school and we stayed. In Alaska I wanted to take away a little bit of cinema and do more photography with the imposing natural settings.” His love for art began at the age of nine when his father, who was a photographer, gave him a camera and he took his first photos in his native Cuba. Later, one of his photos in which a neighbor is seen drunk, holding a chicken, along with his wife at a party, makes him say “you can do this job, it doesn’t turn out that bad. Focusing on a situation marks the photographer I am today.” In his dream of becoming a filmmaker, he manages to obtain a scholarship to study at the Moscow film school. However, “because of being critical of Fidel Castro’s government, I was denied my departure.” He performed military service and finally, in 1998, graduated in cinematography from the International School of Film and Television in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. At that time, he meets his wife, a US citizen. They have two children and have been married for 20 years. His first film project was with Manuel Martin Cuenca, with whom he made a baseball documentary in Havana and obtained recognition and awards at various film festivals around the world. In 2001, he visited Washington D.C. to conduct a film workshop and from there, he moved to Brooklyn with his wife. The rest is history. De la Uz has worked making documentaries and fiction films for HBO, Discovery/Times TV, MTV, among others. In 2010, he worked as director of photography on “Carillo, Comunista.” The film won Best Documentary of the Year at the Turia Film Festival. The film “Half of Oscar” was awarded as best cinematography at the French Film Festival in 2011. Thanks to a grant from the prestigious Pulitzer Center, de la Uz is making a documentary about the salmon ecosystem, together with Miranda Weiss, a writer, which will be broadcast on Alaska television in 2024.
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