“The death of filmmaker Jorge Luis Sánchez, a great artist and a great defender of Cuba’s historic and cultural memory, is very painful. It hurts to know that he is leaving when he was amid creative work, full of dreams and projects. Our condolences to his family and friends,” Alonso wrote on his X account.

The House of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema also expressed sorrow on X and conveyed its heartfelt condolences to the family, his coworkers and the great family of Cuban cinema.

Earlier, the president of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), Alexis Triana, announced the death of the Cuban moviemaker of cancer on Thursday morning.

“A terrible and unexpected deadly illness deprives us of his artistic genius, amid great joint efforts. Let us bid him farewell with the immense ovation that all his work deserves,” he wrote on his Facebook account.

Close to turning 65 on January 21, Sánchez began this month to film his latest movie “Performance,” for which he had given instructions to his team every day, according to Triana.

In addition, he was advancing in parallel with Cubacine ICAIC in the preparations for his series “La Causa Común,” for which he had traveled a few weeks ago to Nicaragua to re-screen two of his films, “El Beny” and “Buscando a Casal,” at the National Cinematheque of that country.

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