The regime reactivates its Film Commission to “attend” to the island’s filmmakers
14ymedio, Havana, 23 November 2024 — With almost all of its creators in exile or sidelined by the government, Cuban cinema continues to add triumphs abroad. Director Miguel Coyula, whose name is synonymous with independent and unreserved creation, won the Best Film award at the Envisión competition, awarded during the International Documentary Film Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA), for his film Crónicas del absurdo [Chronicles of the Absurd].
Coyula, whose production is unclassifiable within Cuban cinema, defined Cuba as a “dysfunctional country” during the award ceremony, which he attended with his wife, actress Lynn Cruz. In keeping with his film – he ironically said – his arrival in Amsterdam occurred after “a blackout day and night” in Havana. He also denounced the situation of political prisoners in Cuban jails.
“But we live in Cuba,” he added, “we want to continue making films in Cuba, we want to make them outside the system as the only way to truly have complete independence. Not in the sense that we pay for the films out of our own pockets, but independence in form and content.”
“We want to continue making films in Cuba, we want to make them outside the system as the only way to truly have complete independence”
The jury praised Crónicas del absurdo for being “formally complex and with a cinematic language that emerges organically and directly from its limitations.” The film, they added, is a testimony of “radical” creation similar to that of other artists who “refuse to be silenced.” The film has been described by European critics as “a Kafkaesque masterpiece.” Along with the trophy, Coyula won 15,000 euros.
For her part, Cruz revealed that IDFA’s artistic director, Syrian documentary filmmaker Orwa Nyrabia, had sent them a letter two months ago congratulating the couple on the film. “The work you have done is outstanding. It is obvious that the personal/political experience that the film shares with us is outstanding. Our solidarity must also be clear,” he said. “The process, the brave artistic choices, the way this enormous pain was shared with us is masterful and organic, deeply honest and loving. All this love and all this anger… is ours now.”
Coyula will be at the Casa de Velázquez in Madrid on Monday 25th and at the Casa de América on Tuesday 26th, also in the Spanish capital, to talk about his latest films. In addition, he will be presenting Nadie, a documentary about the Cuban poet Rafael Alcides, at this venue.
The profile of Coyula collected by IDFA explains that, on the Island, the government controls and censors national film production, a rule against which Coyula and Cruz – along with a new generation of filmmakers – have rebelled with their films. Coinciding with the director’s success, the Council of Ministers published an agreement on Friday to ratify the Cuban Film Commission as the “governmental body” responsible for controlling and financing the Island’s cinema.
The profile of Coyula collected by IDFA explains that, on the Island, the government controls and censors national film production, a rule against which Coyula and Cruz –along with a new generation of filmmakers– have rebelled with their films. Coinciding with the director’s success, the Council of Ministers published an agreement on Friday to ratify the Cuban Film Commission as the “governmental body” responsible for controlling and financing the Island’s cinema.
Alexis Triana, president of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), said that the Commission already existed but had never had any work objective. Now, he added, there is a “policy aimed at Cuban cinema” supervised by the Council of Ministers, to “attend” to directors and producers with more attention.
The Commission will be composed of several ministerial representatives, including one from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one from the Ministry of the Armed Forces and one from the Ministry of the Interior.
In addition to the Minister of Culture and Triana himself, the Commission will be composed of several ministerial representatives, including one from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one from the Ministry of the Armed Forces and one from the Ministry of the Interior. The Minister of Culture, as president of the Commission, may invite any other state official to the sessions.
Among the measures – described in an Official Gazette published this Friday – is to offer “the possibility for independent audiovisual production companies, which currently number 65, to become small or medium-sized film companies if they so wish.”
The Commission also aims to “promote Cuba as a destination for national and foreign audiovisual and cinematographic productions,” help with the paperwork for filmmakers authorized to travel to present their work abroad, and draw up a schedule of permits for producing works and financing them through a Development Fund.
Although neither Triana nor the document mention it, the publication of the agreement comes months after numerous conflicts between the government and the Assembly of Cuban Filmmakers, an initiative to maintain the independence of film creation. Less controversial than at its origins, the Assembly has lowered its tone and quite a few of its founders have left the country.
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