Zita Morriña—best known as Toti—Director of Programming at the Habana Film Festival, has died in Cuba. She was part of the staff and Board of Directors of the festival since its foundation in 1979, and served as the Director of Programming since 2004. This same year, she was awarded with Cuba’s Order for National Culture.
Born in Havana in 1951, Toti received a degree in Art History from the University of Havana in 1974, with a focus on American Art. After graduating, she joined the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC) and worked as a film analyst and assistant director in numerous documentaries such as Cultivando la piedra by Santiago Villafuerte, Madera by Daniel Díaz Torres, Tango and tango by Mauricio Beru; in the Latin American weekly newsreel directed by Santiago Álvarez, as well as in the feature films Mella by Enrique Pineda Barnet, The Last Supper / La última cena (1975) by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Río Negro (1976) by Manuel Pérez, A Woman, a Man, a City / Una mujer, un hombre, una ciudad (1977) by Manuel Octavio Gómez, and Se permuta (1984) by Juan Carlos Tabío.
Additionally, she also worked as interpreter and assistant to the German director Wim Wenders during the shooting of the acclaimed documentary Buena Vista Social Club in Habana. She kept linked to the groundbreaking musical group, and collaborated in the recordings of her albums as a production assistant.
