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	<title>Inter Press ServiceCINEMA-CUBA: Film Institute in Crisis at 39.</title>
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		<title>CINEMA-CUBA: Film Institute in Crisis at 39.</title>
		<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/1998/04/cinema-cuba-film-institute-in-crisis-at-39/</link>
		<comments>https://www.ipsnews.net/1998/04/cinema-cuba-film-institute-in-crisis-at-39/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 1998 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dalia Acosta</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Headlines]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Latin America & the Caribbean]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Culture]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ipsnews.net/?p=88298</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Dalia Acosta 
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><font color="#999999"><p class="wp-caption-text">Dalia Acosta 
</p></font></p><p>By Dalia Acosta<br />HAVANA, Apr 7 1998 (IPS) </p><p>Cuba&#8217;s struggling Institute of Film Arts and Industry (ICAIC) turned 39 last month wondering if it will be around to celebrate its 40th anniversary.<br />
<span id="more-88298"></span><br />
Amid strong opposition to its policies, and no end in sight to an economic and artistic crisis, directors, artists and film lovers attended an extensive program of exhibits in 20 theaters during M<arch - which left clear sense of nostalgia for the good old days of Cuban movie making.

And pessimism seems to be the predominant mood in the film world here, as it prepares for another festival: the 20th Festival of New Latin American Film, scheduled to take place in Havana in December.

On the surface, the Institute's main problem appears to be financial, but the ICAIC is accused of imposing "arbitrary policies", according to a documentary which has been circulating underground in Cuba.

"Inconclusive Sequences," a film by Amanda Chavez, features a gallery of directors and actors giving their opinions about what they call "the national film crisis of the '90s."

Humberto Solas, the director of classics like "Cecilia," acknowledges that film production in Cuba could be at its worst moment since the creation of the ICAIC at the beginning of the Revolution led by Fidel Castro.
[related_articles]
"Exploitation" is how actress Beatriz Valdes - star of the film "The Beauty of Alhambra" - described the salaries being paid to Cuban artists.

The subject of pay is only one of the many complaints aired by workers in the movie industry, the main ones being poor planning and financing procedure and a failure to reinvest part of the resources to support the national film industry.

Like all industries here, movie productions were severely affected by the economic crisis which, between 1990 and 1993, provoked a decline of 34.9 percent in the gross national product.

National film production - which until last decade remained between seven and 15 feature fiction films a year and 40 documentaries, eight short animation films, and one news feature a week - has been drastically reduced.

Throughout the crisis, "co-production" has been the norm, serverely restricting production levels and the sale of services to other film producers. Because co-productions are financed with foreign capital, the original products must be modified in order to fit certain popular actors or themes of interest in the countries that are financing them, which are largely European.

The result generally has been lower quality films which, above all, steer national cincema away from its major formal achievements and from its place in contemporary Cuban culture.

A quick look at the theatres in the capital during the festival held in honor of the ICAIC's anniversary confirms that in the past, Cuba achieved a solid ranking in movie production, both in terms of quality and quantity. It is enough just to mention some of the Cuban classics - "Memories of Underdevelopment", "Death of a Bureaucrat,", "The Last Supper," and "Strawberry and Chocolate, " by director Tomas Gutierrez Alea, who died last year.

Others on the list include "Lucia" and "A Successful Man", by Humberto Solas, "Hello Hemingway" and "Madagascar" by Fernando Perez, "Secondary Roles" by Orlando Rojas and "Change" by Juan Carlos Tabio.

In a decision characterized as "an act political maturity", the program for the 39th anniversary included movies by Cuban directors now living abroad, and others who are harsh critics of the regime.

This was the case of "Maria Antonia" by Sergio Giral, and "Red Dust" by writer and film maker Jesus Diaz, both of whom live outside Cuba and, in the case of the latter, openly criticize Castro's government.

Excluded from last month's program, however, was "Guantanamera," the last film by the duo Gutierrez Alea-Tabio, which has been blasted by Castro as "counter-revolutionary."

Castro said the film made fun of the desperate efforts of the population to deal with the problems they are facing: scarcities of virtaully all consumer goods, the United States blockade, and the fall of the socialist camp in Europe.

Although the conflicts between film makers and state agencies over ideological supervision are not new, they reached a new height in 1990, with the feature film "Alice in the Wonderland," directed by Daniel Diaz Torres.

The film is about a recent graduate who must fulfill her social duties in "Maravilla" (Wonderland), a small rural village where the "rejects" get assigned, that is, the officials who are removed from public administration positions.

"Alice in Wonderland" sparked a fierce controversy, and marked the beginning of a new era in Cuban movies - characterized by a row among the three creative groups within the ICAIC.

The Institute has been accused of favoritism in deciding which films should be produced, and by the separation of the highest authority in the leadership of the ICAIC from the production mechanism established long ago.

The dispute calmed down when "Strawberry and Chocolate" - a film about homophobia in Cuba - was received so favorably by the public and the critics and became the only Cuban film to be nominated for an Oscar in the foreign film category.

But two new productions, "Put Your Thoughts on Me" and "Vertical Love," by Arturo Sotto, have rekindled the fire of discord among artists and, paradoxically, politicians.

Well-established film makers who have presented proposals and have not yet received favorable responses, complainted that Sotto "gained space" and has made one film after another, while they waited patiently at home.

Castro's criticism of "Guantanamera" caused a real commotion among film makers who are trying to depict and defend Cuban society through complex works of art - that are as rich in contradictions, as reality.

For actor Jorge Perugorria, the protagonist of "Strawberry and Chocolate" it is up to the politicians to decide whether they are going to allow a film industry, once a leader in Latin American cinema, to die.


</p>
		<p>Excerpt: </p>Dalia Acosta 
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
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		<title>CINEMA-CUBA: Film Institute in Crisis at 39.</title>
		<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/1998/04/cinema-cuba-film-institute-in-crisis-at-39/</link>
		<comments>https://www.ipsnews.net/1998/04/cinema-cuba-film-institute-in-crisis-at-39/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 1998 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dalia Acosta</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Headlines]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Latin America & the Caribbean]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Culture]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ipsnews.net/?p=88300</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Dalia Acosta 
]]></description>
		
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><font color="#999999"><p class="wp-caption-text">Dalia Acosta 
</p></font></p><p>By Dalia Acosta<br />HAVANA, Apr 6 1998 (IPS) </p><p>Cuba&#8217;s struggling Institute of Film Arts and Industry (ICAIC) turned 39 last month wondering if it will be around to celebrate its 40th anniversary.<br />
<span id="more-88300"></span><br />
Amid strong opposition to its policies, and no end in sight to an economic and artistic crisis, directors, artists and film lovers attended an extensive program of exhibits in 20 theaters during M<arch - which left clear sense of nostalgia for the good old days of Cuban movie making.

And pessimism seems to be the predominant mood in the film world here, as it prepares for another festival: the 20th Festival of New Latin American Film, scheduled to take place in Havana in December.

On the surface, the Institute's main problem appears to be financial, but the ICAIC is accused of imposing "arbitrary policies", according to a documentary which has been circulating underground in Cuba.

"Inconclusive Sequences," a film by Amanda Chavez, features a gallery of directors and actors giving their opinions about what they call "the national film crisis of the '90s."

Humberto Solas, the director of classics like "Cecilia," acknowledges that film production in Cuba could be at its worst moment since the creation of the ICAIC at the beginning of the Revolution led by Fidel Castro.
[related_articles]
"Exploitation" is how actress Beatriz Valdes - star of the film "The Beauty of Alhambra" - described the salaries being paid to Cuban artists.

The subject of pay is only one of the many complaints aired by workers in the movie industry, the main ones being poor planning and financing procedure and a failure to reinvest part of the resources to support the national film industry.

Like all industries here, movie productions were severely affected by the economic crisis which, between 1990 and 1993, provoked a decline of 34.9 percent in the gross national product.

National film production - which until last decade remained between seven and 15 feature fiction films a year and 40 documentaries, eight short animation films, and one news feature a week - has been drastically reduced.

Throughout the crisis, "co-production" has been the norm, serverely restricting production levels and the sale of services to other film producers. Because co-productions are financed with foreign capital, the original products must be modified in order to fit certain popular actors or themes of interest in the countries that are financing them, which are largely European.

The result generally has been lower quality films which, above all, steer national cincema away from its major formal achievements and from its place in contemporary Cuban culture.

A quick look at the theatres in the capital during the festival held in honor of the ICAIC's anniversary confirms that in the past, Cuba achieved a solid ranking in movie production, both in terms of quality and quantity. It is enough just to mention some of the Cuban classics - "Memories of Underdevelopment", "Death of a Bureaucrat,", "The Last Supper," and "Strawberry and Chocolate, " by director Tomas Gutierrez Alea, who died last year.

Others on the list include "Lucia" and "A Successful Man", by Humberto Solas, "Hello Hemingway" and "Madagascar" by Fernando Perez, "Secondary Roles" by Orlando Rojas and "Change" by Juan Carlos Tabio.

In a decision characterized as "an act political maturity", the program for the 39th anniversary included movies by Cuban directors now living abroad, and others who are harsh critics of the regime.

This was the case of "Maria Antonia" by Sergio Giral, and "Red Dust" by writer and film maker Jesus Diaz, both of whom live outside Cuba and, in the case of the latter, openly criticize Castro's government.

Excluded from last month's program, however, was "Guantanamera," the last film by the duo Gutierrez Alea-Tabio, which has been blasted by Castro as "counter-revolutionary."

Castro said the film made fun of the desperate efforts of the population to deal with the problems they are facing: scarcities of virtaully all consumer goods, the United States blockade, and the fall of the socialist camp in Europe.

Although the conflicts between film makers and state agencies over ideological supervision are not new, they reached a new height in 1990, with the feature film "Alice in the Wonderland," directed by Daniel Diaz Torres.

The film is about a recent graduate who must fulfill her social duties in "Maravilla" (Wonderland), a small rural village where the "rejects" get assigned, that is, the officials who are removed from public administration positions.

"Alice in Wonderland" sparked a fierce controversy, and marked the beginning of a new era in Cuban movies - characterized by a row among the three creative groups within the ICAIC.

The Institute has been accused of favoritism in deciding which films should be produced, and by the separation of the highest authority in the leadership of the ICAIC from the production mechanism established long ago.

The dispute calmed down when "Strawberry and Chocolate" - a film about homophobia in Cuba - was received so favorably by the public and the critics and became the only Cuban film to be nominated for an Oscar in the foreign film category.

But two new productions, "Put Your Thoughts on Me" and "Vertical Love," by Arturo Sotto, have rekindled the fire of discord among artists and, paradoxically, politicians.

Well-established film makers who have presented proposals and have not yet received favorable responses, complainted that Sotto "gained space" and has made one film after another, while they waited patiently at home.

Castro's criticism of "Guantanamera" caused a real commotion among film makers who are trying to depict and defend Cuban society through complex works of art - that are as rich in contradictions, as reality.

For actor Jorge Perugorria, the protagonist of "Strawberry and Chocolate" it is up to the politicians to decide whether they are going to allow a film industry, once a leader in Latin American cinema, to die.


</p>
		<p>Excerpt: </p>Dalia Acosta 
]]></content:encoded>
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