After evaluating the nominees for the 2021 National Film Award, the jury chaired by the screenwriter Senel Paz (2020 National Film Award) and made up of the actress Paula Alí , the producer Lourdes García, the director of photography Raúl Rodríguez (National Film Award 2017), the musician Ulises Hernández, the director Enrique “ Kiki ” Álvarez and the film critic Carlos Galiano, decided to award the the prominent actor Mario Balmaseda, for his great contributions through to the development of Cuban cinema. 

As Paula Alí says, “Mario Balmaseda has done a lot for Cuban culture in general, as he is not only an excellent film actor, but also a theater and television actor. We should all congratulate ourselves for having made this choice”.

Formed in the Dramaturgy Seminar of the National Theater of Cuba, taught in the sixties by renowned theater masters, and in the then German Democratic Republic, Balmaseda was nourished by fundamental tools to assume the theater as part of his life and to give prestige to the scene. Cuban with each role assumed in the characters that she interpreted under the guidance of important theatrical directors of our country.

His passion transcended the stage and his foray into the big screen earned him the respect and admiration of the public and specialized critics in each role he assumed.

Films such as El hombre de Maisinicú (Manuel Pérez Paredes, 1973), In a certain way (Sara Gómez, 1974), El brigadista (Octavio Cortázar, 1977), Se permuta (Juan Carlos Tabío, 1984), En tres y dos (Rolando Díaz, 1985), Baraguá (José Massip, 1986), The useless death of my partner Manolo (Julio García Espinosa, 1990), Between cyclones (Enrique Colina, 2002) and The work of the century (Carlos M. Quintela, 2015), have Mario Balmaseda's imprint.