Gibara Low Budget Film Festival in Cuba, April 15–19
HAVANA TIMES – “It’s coming, it’s coming,” repeated an anxious resident of the city of Gibara in eastern Cuba, standing among a crowd on both sides of the main street in this city of about 70,000 inhabitants.
Shortly after, motorcyclists, a wind and percussion band, carnival dance groups, and, finally, a disorganized mass of people paraded down the street, joining the opening procession of the 19th edition of the Gibara International Low Budget Film Festival (FICG).
In Gibara, the main town of the municipality by the same name in Holguín province, 771 kilometers east of Havana, the FICG is taking place from April 15 to 19, with the screening of hundreds of audiovisual works from about 30 countries.
“There’s a real joy because of this festival. It’s a blessing for the people,” said local resident Roberto Verdencia to IPS.
Film screenings, art exhibitions, theatrical performances, along with parties and youth-oriented filmmaking workshops, disrupt the usual calm of this coastal enclave, also known for its seafood fishing.
“Now there’s a festive, beautiful atmosphere, but normally the streets are deserted,” said Hilda Freyre, another local resident.
The festival is based on showcasing low-budget, low-resource videos, hence the name in Spanish cine pobre (poor cinema).
The festival offers a screening platform to independent studios and emerging filmmakers at a time when opportunities to show non-state productions on the big screen are scarce in Cuba.
“This setting has enabled the development of many filmmakers and their works, many of which premiered in Gibara,” said Jaqueline Tapia, a Gibara native and the Director of Culture for Holguín province’s government.
Gabriela Hernandez, a contestant in the documentary category, told IPS the event, founded in 2003 by Cuban filmmaker Humberto Solas, is a great way to empower young creators and offers valuable learning opportunities.
“You see short films made by students or without major production companies behind them. It proves that cinema can be made without resources but with good ideas,” said jury member Laura Perez, a Spanish director and screenwriter.
Impoverished Cinema
In its current edition, the festival returns to its original low-budget concept, after expanding in 2017 to accept films of all budgets in an effort to further internationalize the event.
However, those aspirations were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the deepening economic crisis in Cuba, which led to a decline in the Cuban film industry.
According to festival president Sergio Benvenuto, the post-COVID period accelerated a new perspective and also brought back ideas that are now “back on the table”:
With the state’s limited financial capacity to produce films, Cuban filmmakers have increasingly turned to independent production.
After the 2019 publication of Decree-Law 373 on Independent Audiovisual and Cinematographic Creators, filmmakers, technicians, and producers in Cuba were able to gain legal status, apply for filming permits, open bank accounts, and seek international funding, among other rights and responsibilities.
Many creators took advantage of this law. According to the most recent data, as of September 2021, 2,243 people (751 women and 1,492 men) were registered across the island.
But it has been very difficult for newly legalized independent studios to survive off their own productions. This is due to the near-total absence of public funding for national cinema in Cuba and the fact that it is virtually impossible to recoup film costs through screenings on the island, where all cinemas are state-owned and ticket prices are legally capped and kept low.
“We don’t even think about making a profit from national distribution,” said Iraida Tamayo, executive producer at the independent studio Wajiros Films.
Independent Productions
The independent studio GatoRosafilms—whose director, Rosa Maria Rodriguez, was interviewed by IPS—survives by offering all kinds of professional services to third parties, mostly related to audiovisual production processes.
To complete their films, the challenge is even greater: they often need multiple financiers and have sometimes managed to close the budget gap with support from the Cuban Film Promotion Fund.
That fund, created in June 2019, allocates financing in national currency which, due to inflation, has steadily devalued to the point that in its 2025 edition, it will no longer support feature film projects.
“Almost everything else is external (in terms of funding). The downside of external sources is that we always end up as minority co-producers, even when the work is Cuban,” Tamayo noted.
According to Rafael Grillo, member of the Gibara festival’s organizing committee and president of the Cuban Association of Cinematic Press, the greatest weakness in the sector lies not just in financial issues, but in the circulation and exhibition of independent cinema.
“All these projects are currently orphaned; they have no visibility,” he stated.
The Gibara Festival, with its renewed focus on low-budget works, also includes initiatives like Cine en Construccion (Cinema in Progress) and Factoria del Cine Pobre (Low-budget Cinema Factory), which offer financial and professional support to projects in development.
“It’s not a showcase festival, not just for display—it’s focused on film creation and the industry,” Grillo added.
First published in Spanish by IPS and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.
It is amazing no blackout in the village during the film festival of an extended period of time