¨A deadly disease deprives us of his artistic genius, in the midst of his great joint endeavors¨.

¨Let’s bid him farewell with the immense ovation that all his work deserves,¨ wrote the headline on his Facebook social network account.

The Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry offers its deepest condolences to his wife and children, and shares at this time the pain of all his friends and colleagues, the note adds.

Sanchez, who was about to turn 65 on January 21, began filming his latest movie ‘Performance’ this month, for which he gave directions to his crew every day, according to Triana.

He was also advancing in parallel with Cubacine ICAIC in the preparations for his series ¨La Causa Común¨, for which he traveled a few weeks ago to Nicaragua to re-shoot two of his films, ‘El Beny’ and ‘Buscando a Casal’, at the National Cinematheque of that country.

In the Central American nation he visited the possible locations of his passionate approach to José Martí, Máximo Gómez and Antonio Maceo, explained the President of Icaic.

Likewise, his film ¨Cuba Libre¨ inaugurated the First Cuban Film Festival in Washington, United States.

Born in 1960 in Havana, Jorge Luis Sanchez graduated in Pedagogy and started as an amateur filmmaker at the age of 18, founding the National Federation of Cuban Film Clubs, according to the Cuban website Ecured.

In 1981 he began his professional relationship with Icaic as assistant cameraman and then assistant director in the films ¨Baraguá¨, ¨Clandestinos¨, ¨Un señor muy viejo con unas alas enormes¨ and ¨El verano feliz de la señora Forbes¨.

In 1987 he organized the Film and Video Workshop of the Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS), a space that brought together numerous young filmmakers and between 1990 and 1991 he worked with the outstanding filmmaker Santiago Álvarez in the Icaic Latin American News as assistant artistic director.

In addition to working with Orlando Rojas in the filming of ¨Papeles secundarios¨ and with Fernando Pérez in ¨Hello Hemingway¨, in 1990 he directed two of his best documentaries, ¨Buscando a Casals¨ and ¨El Fanguito¨, which are part of a vast work recognized in several film festivals.

In 2006 he succeeded in making a long-cherished project, a film about the life and work of the legendary Cuban musician Benny Moré, which he brought to the big screen in the fiction feature film El Benny, which was a resounding success with the public and won numerous international awards, among other films.

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