
Michael New
Directing
Biography
Michael New was born in October 1939 in Trinidad He made his first film works in France and the United Kingdom. In 1972, he took residence in Venezuela, where he began to work with the ULA Film Centre. He has made many narratives and documentary short films. Philmography: Chile 11 de Septiembre, Rosa de los vientos (1978), Cubagua (1986) and Florentino y el Diablo (1995).
Known For

Los Nevados is the first peasant feature film from Venezuela. The magical poetry about humans who endure an almost animal, almost instinctive, almost sad existence, which turns into a complaint.
Los Nevados

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.
Cubagua

Florentino is a young horseman and singer, a free spirit living in the open world without restrictions, in the Venezuelan plains. He confronts the devil in a duel of improvised verses. As time passes, these unspoilt plains start to change. Through Florentino's voice and actions, the plains cannot be conquered. Its culture defies the devil in the eternal fight between good and evil, between life and death.
Florentino y el diablo

Yo hablo a Caracas (1978), the first documentary by Carlos Azpúrua, is marked by the luminous presence of the Yekuana shaman Barné Yavarí. This elder from the Amazonian forest articulates two powerful and prophetic warnings: first, a demand for respect toward the sovereignty of Indigenous beliefs and culture; second, a grave denunciation of the threat posed by “criollo” presence and its economically irrational logic to the natural balance of the Amazon. Through Yavarí’s voice, the film contrasts modern exploitation with a millennia-old Indigenous worldview grounded in harmony with nature, turning the documentary into an early and resonant plea for cultural dignity and ecological consciousness.
Yo hablo a Caracas
Documentary by Michael New.
Orinoco
This film talks about the overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile.
Chile 11 de septiembre
A film by Michael New.
La rosa de los vientos

Animation film about Venezuelan philosopher Simón Rodríguez.
Simón Rodríguez, ese soy yo

Animation based on the Watunna, sacred book by the Yekuana people.
Wanadi

Based on a story by Julio Garmendia. Animation about the inferiority complex suffered by the native apple when faced to imported apples.