Donald Myerston

Directing

Donald Myerston

Born July 1, 1945 · Caracas, Venezuela

Died July 23, 2026 · aged 81

Director, screenwriter, editor and producer of radio, film, video, theater and TV since 1965. Founding member of the Department of Film at the University of Los Andes, and a key figure of the New Latin American Cinema movement.

Known For

Caño MánamoCaño Mánamo · 1983
Caño Mánamo
★ 6.41983
MovieDocumentary
A documentary about the building of a damn near Caño Mánamo and the effects it has on the environment.
RenovaciónRenovación · 1969
Renovación
★ 10.01969
MovieDocumentary
In 1969, a wave of discontent swept through Latin American universities. In Venezuela, students set out to fundamentally renew the concept and criteria of teaching. This is their story.
Puros hombresPuros hombres · 1977
Puros hombres
★ 7.01977
MovieDramaHistory
During the dictatorial regime of Juan Vicente Gómez, the bachelor Ibarra is imprisoned for political conspiracy. In prison, the inmates live together remembering the events that led to their imprisonment. Finally, a group, led by the bachelor Ibarra, manages to carry out a plan to escape from the prison.
DiamantesDiamantes · 1969
Diamantes
1969
MovieDocumentary
Diamantes, short produced by the ULA, registered the birth of a new town: San Salvador de Paul, the arrival of new residents, farmers who ventured in search of riches, merchants, gamblers, prostitutes, all trying to snatch the momentary wealth of those who discovered the mineral, typical image of underdevelopment.
ManzanitaManzanita · 1978
Manzanita
1978
MovieAnimation
Based on a story by Julio Garmendia. Animation about the inferiority complex suffered by the native apple when faced to imported apples.
Enough!Enough! · 1969
Enough!
★ 9.01969
Movie
“Through the use of violent symbols (loosely associated with Artaud’s notion of cruelty), some of the consequences of the current social organization in Latin-America are exposed: the alienation, marginalization and reification of men, and the continuous presence of imperialism, considered as rape.” (UU)
22 de mayo22 de mayo · 1969
22 de mayo
1969
MovieDocumentaryDrama
May 22, 1969. A resident of the hillsides crosses Caracas carrying a portable radio. The editing intercuts these images with footage of the COPEI-led attack on the Central University of Venezuela and the students' resistance. The film was made collectively by Jacobo Borges and members of the Cine Urgente group, together with residents of the neighborhood.
Tierna es la NocheTierna es la Noche · 1990
Tierna es la Noche
★ 8.51990
MovieDramaMystery
Tierna es la Noche is a film without bullets nor sea, without mosquitoes, without peasants nor flowers. It only contains a barman, a man and a beautiful woman who lives in a bathroom. For commercial reasons, we have included two policemen, a drop of blood and a multilingual nymphomaniac. For aesthetic reasons, a tear and a black man. For both reasons, the film takes place anachronically, during the fifties and nineties in a make-believe city called Caracas. It's a story of histerics, like all stories, unfinished.

Filmography

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Coup at DaybreakCoup at Daybreak · 1998
Coup at Daybreak
★ 6.81998
MovieDramaAction
The film follows the events of the night of February 4, 1992 in Caracas, Venezuela. That night a group of military rebels staged a coup d'etat. Venezuelans found themselves as virtual prisoners. As the coup starts and fighting takes place from a military base which is in the center of the city's most affluent areas, with both luxury high rises and palatial mansions. The area of La Carlota provides a wealth of very interesting, often flamboyant and typical characters of the Latin America upper middle and upper classes. They are among the most affected. Various vignettes in these different characters' homes are developed. These people's reactions, lifestyles, vices, and humanity come out in a very honest fashion under duress.

Producer

CubaguaCubagua · 1987
Cubagua
★ 8.51987
MovieFantasyHistory
Based on the novel by Venezuelan writer Enrique Bernardo Núñez, the film tells the story of engineer Leiziaga discovering his historical doubles in the context of the colonization of the island of Cubagua in Venezuela. In this way, two stories are intertwined: one that takes place in the 16th century and another in the 20th century. The first story focuses on the life of the Spanish settlers who arrived in Cubagua and the exploitation of the indigenous peoples for pearl extraction; the second story, set in the 1920s, tells of Leiziaga's archaeological expedition, financed by a multinational oil company, in which he visits the island to study the ruins of the Spanish settlement, which leads him to reflect on the passage of time and the destruction caused by human exploitation, and through a game of mirrors, to realize the relationships between the past, present and future.

Producer