A Chat with Hernán Henriquez
Translated by Alejandro Gedeón and Léa Zagury
When I met Hernán Henriquez, I never imagined
how important he was in the history of Cuban animation. This interview reveals
how the Cuban animation industry began side by side with Castro's revolution,
and how Hernán became one of its founders and pioneers. He's a man
that challenged his dreams and made them a reality. After dedicating 20 years
of his life to animation, reaching immense popularity and recognition in his
native country, Hernán decided to emigrate to the United States as
a refugee, carrying only his memories and his incredible talent.
Let's discover the story in his own words...
The First Steps
I never thought I would dedicate my life to animation until I saw UPA. (United
Productions of America) animated cartoons for the first time.
One day in 1958, I saw an ad in a magazine on "How to Learn Animation
by Mail." The course didn't teach me anything, but it made me realize
that I was going to devote myself to this art form. That's when I started
to draw comic strips. Then I went to an advertising agency and they told me
that I couldn't dedicate myself to animating cartoons, because in Cuba that
occupation didn't exist; and it was even more hopeless to make a living from
comic strips. But I didn't pay attention to anyone and I decided that I wanted
to work in animation.
The Creation of The Cuban Institute of the Art and Industry of Cinema (ICAIC)
Fidel Castro came to power in January of 1959, and slowly implemented a Communist
system in Cuba. Three months after he came to power, the Cuban Institute of
the Art and Industry of Cinema -- ICAIC -- was created. Cinema became very
important during the revolution, a fundamental vehicle, because cinema can
control the masses from an intellectual standpoint.
There was already a cinematography tradition in Cuba, people with experience,
but the idea was to create a real Cuban film industry.
My First Job
In June of 1959, one day during a high school class, a teacher walked by and
saw me doing some sketches on my notebook. She liked them and encouraged me
to go the next day to an advertising agency where she also worked. So I went.
They didn't have a job for me, but they said there was another advertising
agency, which produced animation, and that I might have a better chance there.
When I got to the Publicitaria Siboney, I told them I wanted to work for free
because I was only interested in learning. The president of Siboney gave me
a strange look and said: "Fill up this bottle with coffee. There's a
coffee shop around the corner." I ran and brought back the bottle with
the coffee, so he showed me the animation department, which was a tiny place.
There I met Jesús de Armas and Eduardo Muñoz who where designers
and animators. My work consisted of doing clean-up lines and coloring the
cels.
A month later Siboney was producing a lot more animation and they asked me
to do some animation sequences which I finished in three days. Everybody was
surprised with the quality of my work; it was as good as that done by the
other animators.
The Idea of Creating an Animation Department at the ICAIC
My work was so good that Jesús de Armas and Eduardo Muñoz
proposed that I join them in the creation of the Animation Department of ICAIC.
They told me they had a project for me; it was a secret: a 3-minute animated
film called La Prensa Seria (The Serious Press). A pilot we
were going to show to ICAIC's President Alfredo Guevara to seek support for
the idea of creating an animation department in that institution. Yet, we
worked at Siboney, and if they found out we were secretly doing this project
for the ICAIC, we could be automatically fired.
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