Lucas 2009 Awards

During the first installment of Lucas Awards, the video clip Con la misma loca, by Charanga Habanera, was awarded in the categories: Visual Effects (Pedro Vázquez and Ismar Rodríguez) and Dance Popular Music (Ismar Rodríguez and Julio C. Leal).

Harold López –Nussa also won two prizes with his video Bailando Suiza, in the categories of Animation and Opera Prima (Raupa, Nelson and Edel Rodríguez).

Rudy Mora and Orlando Cruzata won Best Fusion Music Video Clip Award with Revolución,by Raúl Paz, while Carolina Sa and Miguel Vassy pulled it off with the clip Rincones, by René Ferrer.  

The evening couldn´t pass without seeing Santana on the stage, who won in the category of Best Rap Hip-Hop Reggeaton with Lo mejor que suena ahora, by Gente de Zona; in the other hand Osmani Gómez won in Rock Category with the video clip Smashing your Brain, by Necrópolis..

Teresita Fernández and Tony Nodarse were awarded in children´s music category for Vicaria; Best Sound Track Award went to director Iván Lejardi for Las Cosas, by DJ Raciel.  

At Karl Marx Theater of this capital it was also awarded director Maikel Díaz in Making Of Category for the clip Siempre que llueva. 

As part of this first awards ceremony, which continued the next day, people could enjoy the performance of soloist Diana Fuentes, musician Edesio Alejandro and the bands Acento Latino, Pachito Alonso y sus Kini Kini and Kola Loka. 

Lucas 2009 Festival of the Cuban Video Clip, held at Karl Marx Theater, transcended due to the professionalism and creative rigor of a many of the nominated and winning works, whose directors faced up the risk of exploring new paths within the Cuban clip world with a renewed aesthetic conception.  

The innovative energy, the assimilation of the most suggestive codes of the video clip, from a personal point of view, and the interest in making coincide its cultural coordinates with the musicians´ demands were some of the distinctive features perceived this time in the Lucas winner´s works, in contrast to last year in which some of the clips that reached the final lacked originality.

In this opportunity, the selection of the best video clip of the year pointed out to a clear intention of recognizing audiovisual materials that contribute not only to a wider projection of the Cuban clip, but also to the development of this Project led by Orlando Cruzata. The main merit of this space is its contribution to the promotion and authentication of the national clip with a dynamic artistic conception, which also allows it to talk, in an intelligent way, to different areas of contemporary Cuban reality.

Rincones, by troubadour René Ferrer, won Lucas 2009 Best Video Clip of the Year, out of a list of seven excellently-made clips, as recognition to a work made without concessions that surprised for the dramatic strength of its photography and its profound poetic intention. This material, directed by Carolina Sa and Miguel Vassy (image), also won awards in edition, photography and trova categories, the latter one still lacks high rates of participation in Lucas Awards, because great part of the producers do not have the money to finance their own video clips, situation that also includes other genres not so lucky in Cuban television such as rap, rock or electronic music. 
   
2009 was a good year for Julio César Leal and Ismar Rodríguez, who presented renewed and solid credentials with the production of the video Con la misma loca, by Charanga Habanera, a material full of intertextualities regarding the American gangster films. The video clip won awards in direction and art direction, visual effects and popular dance music categories. Likewise Charanga Habanera won Lucas 2009 award in the category of Most Popular Video Clip of the Year with Gozando en la Habana, produced by Alfredo Ureta.

Bailando suiza, by jazz musician Harold López-Nussa, walked off during the new edition of Lucas. Directed by young designers Raupa, Nelson Ponce and Edel Rodríguez, it won in the categories of Best Novel Figure, Best Instrumental Music, Best Animation and Best Opera Prima.

Within the award-winners list also appear Revolución (Raúl Paz / fusion), by Orlando Cruzata and Rudy Mora; Reinas de la noche (Ernesto Blanco / pop) by Joseph Ross; and Samashing your brain (Necrópolis band) by Osmani Gómez.  Also it was given prizes to: Yo te enseñé (Gente de Zona /reggeaton & hip hop) by Santana; Vicaria (Teresita Fernández / children´s music) Tony Nodarse; and Las cosas (Dj Raciel / soundtrack) by Iván Lejardi, who was acknowledged by the Hermanos Saiz Association as well. 

Charanga Habanera show-orchestra won five statuettes in the Awards Ceremony to the best of the Cuban clip, including Most Popular Video Clip with Gozando en la Habana.

Alfredo Ureta, video clip producer, dedicated the prize to Cubans all over the world, because this Caribbean island is in your blood wherever you are, he said in the Gala at Karl Marx Theater.

Charanga Habanera also won Lucas Awards for Best Direction, Best Popular Dance Music, Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction with the video clip Con la misma loca, directed by Ismar Rodríguez and Julio César Leal. 

Lucas granted a Special Award to the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC) for its 50th anniversary at the service of art and the Cuban Revolution, says film critic Rufo Caballero.

Undoubtedly the big winner of the night was the clip Rincones, by René Ferrer, directed by Carolina Sa and Miguel Vassy, which won Best Video of the Year, Best Trova Music, Best Photography and Best Edition.

Other winners on Lucas night 2009 were: Jackeline Bell and Bilko Cuervo in the category of Ballad /Song, while Ernesto Blanco won in Pop Music with Reinas de la Habana, directed by Joseph Ross.

On the other hand, Canto a San Lázaro, by Hipálage Group, won in the category of Best Traditional and Folk Music.

Find at www.mallcubano.com these award winnig CDs and DVDs, visit us