• Submitted by: admin
• International
• South America
• 09 / 19 / 2007

Cuban cinema, which has overcome the crisis that reduced its production after the disappearance of the European socialist bloc, is being welcomed across Latin America in diverse festivals, series, and honors to the islands filmmakers.

Each week through November, the main auditorium of Mexicos Autonomous University will show both recent and older Cuban films - such as Tomás Gutiérrez Aleas timeless "Memorias del subdesarollo" (Memories of Underdevelopment) - that are essential to any such anthology.

The Fourth International Film Festival in Panama dedicated September 3-8 to the work of Alea - considered to be the best Cuban filmmaker of all time. Aside from "Memorias del subdesarollo", which has become a cult film among Cuban film-goers and critics, "Fresa y chocolate" (Strawberry and Chocolate) and "La muerte de un burócrata" (Death of a Bureaucrat) will be shown among others that Alea left us before his death in 1996.

A few days after the Panama festival ended, the La Estancia Art Center of Venezuelas State Oil Company in Caracas opened the "Los encantos de la buguesia" (The Charm of the Bourgeoisie) film series. One of the directors chosen was Alea with his "Los sobrevivientes" (The Survivors).

Back in Mexico, the Cuban Film Cycle organized by the Benito Juárez International Awards and the Cuban Embassy took place. The more recent "Págias del diario de Mauricio" (Pages from Mauricios Diary) - the fourth full-length feature by Manuel Pérez (among which figures "El hombre de Maisinicú" - The Man from Maisiniscú) will be shown. It was first seen by a foreign audience in Canada in 2006 during the 30th Montreal World Film Festival.

Rated as "excellent" or "good" by 80% of Cuban spectators in response to a poll conducted by the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC), "Páginas del diario de Mauricio" enters into the reality of Cuba during the worst part of the so-called Special Period (the economic crisis that affected the island with the collapse of the European socialist bloc).

Aside from showing movies, the organizers of the Cuban series in Mexico have programmed debates on the films and the challenges currently faced by ICAIC. The showing responds to an interest in "making known the values and achievements of the Cuban Revolution through cinematography", commented Berta Zapata, one of the directors of the Benito Juárez International Awards, to Prensa Latin news agency in Mexico.

"Viva Cuba" by Juan Carlos Cremata, which won the Cannes Film Festival 2995 Grand Prix Ecrans Junior, will also be screened in Mexico. The filmmakers second feature film, it tells the story of two friends - a girl and a boy - whose families deal in different ways with the reality of their lives in Cuba and separate the two friends. The girls mother, who is married to a foreigner, is about to leave the island, and to avoid joining her the girl agrees to her friends plan to elope together. It was the first time in Cannes Film Festival history that a Cuban film was given such an award. It has also received the jury and Percorsi Creativi awards at the Giffoni Festival in Italy; the Grand Prize at the Tenth International Chemnitz Youth Festival in Germany; and a prize at the 13th Spanish & Latin American Film Festival in Brussels. It did not, however, receive an Oscar nomination in 2006 (among 58 films considered), as did "Fresa y chocolate" in 1993.

Another Cuban film being presented in the main auditorium of the Mexican Autonomous University is "Barrio Cuba" by Humberto Solas, founder of ICAIC and pillar of the New Latin American Film movement. Shown at the Havana International New Latin American Film Festival in 2005, this film gained a jury prize along with a public award and a Best Actress award for Luisa María Jiménezs character. The film, which recounts the stories of various suburban Havana families, has received 10 international awards - most of them for its acting. It "seeks to give hommage to the capicity that Cubans have to resist hardship and maintain their identity" says Solas, author at the age of 26 of "Lucia", which is considered to be one of the 10 best Iberoamerican films of all time.

Fernando Pérez is another Cuban director whose work is included in the series with two titles: "Suite Habana" and "Hello Hemingway". Since his first major work, "Clandestinos" in 1986, Pérezs films have always awakened expectations of emotive sincerity. It was with "Suite Habana" that he rose to greater fame with his natural portrait of the Cuban capital. He captures the day to day lives of six Havana citizens with the daily problems the majority of the islands population must deal with. "There are many Havanas, but this is the most representative of Havana", says the director of the film which earned seven awards at the 25th Havana International New Latin American Film Festival in 2003.

To complete the Cuban series in Mexico, Juan Padróns famous Revolutionary cartoon character "Elpidio Valdes" and the documentaries "Cuba, una esperanza que no debe morir" (Cuba, a Hope that Should not Die) by Joaquín Guzmán; "Desafio" (Challenge) by Roberto Chile; and "Viviendo al límite" (Living to the Full) by Belkis Vega, will also be shown.

In mid-August Cuba was a main contributor to the 11th Latin American Film Festival in Lima, Peru, showing three films with their directors present, and ICAIC Executive Director, Camilo Vives, recognized for his work.

Finally, Cuba will present 15 films - including Fernando Pérezs most recent wok "Madrigal" - in the First Showing of Cuban Cinema in the Cinemateca in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The event is organized by the Cuban Embassy.

Cubas hopes for this years Oscars lie with "La edad de la peseta" (The Peseta Age), by Pavel Giroud, along with "Páginas del diario de Mauricio" and "Madrigal".

Source: By Reina Ma. Hernández, Cubanow