Lynn Cruz’s Diary

Ever since my childhood, I’ve been hearing people say Cuba is a small island, therefore the US is an abuser for taking such severe measures when the scales of power are completely tipped in their favor.

Recently, the documentary “Nadie” inspired by poet Rafael Alcides’ love and deception for the Cuban Revolution, by Miguel Coyula (which I was also involved in as an actress and producer), was taken off the program in Buenos Aires, Argentina, by our Ministry of Foreign affairs.

Almost a year has passed since I was distanced from my career in Cuba because of: “My criticism online of people who lead the Government and Communist Party,” an obvious case of censorship that has prevented me from working as an actress. That was definitely a turning point in my professional career, and it made me better understand how cultural policy works in my country.

Producing the independent film Corazon Azul (Blue Heart) by Miguel Coyula, we needed to film a train trip. The first thing that came to my mind was the time I spent over the years on the Hershey train coming from Matanzas to visit my maternal family, especially my grandparents.

Not being able to safely cross large avenues is the main danger that pedestrians face today. The number of vehicles on our roads can’t continue to grow in Havana without first ensuring safety measures, such as the construction of pedestrian bridges and danger signs that remind us where people have died.

Amidst the socio-political crisis that is unfolding in Venezuela, after the masses took to the streets protesting for their freedom, a meteorological event (tornado) has laid waste to several Havana neighborhoods.

A few days after the Havana Film Festival came to an end, I began to reflect upon my encounters with friends, colleagues, acquaintances, who are becoming more and more distant as the years go by. It isn’t because they have changed, it’s quite the opposite in fact.

Sheyla Pool’s short movie “Fragil” is competing in the Havana Film Festival short films category. Its title and lead characters would make you think that it was a story about everyday life where old age is shown in its most delicate state.

The protest announced by the “San Isidro Collective”, (along with artists Iris Ruiz, Amaury Pacheco, Yanelys Nunez, Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, Michel Matos, among the most prominent) has unleashed paranoia and excessive surveillance of the Ministry of Culture’s (Mincult) surrounding areas.

Independent filmmakers have managed to continuously produce works, and even though they have to jump through bureaucratic hurdles, deal with censorship, Cuban film does exist and it does have international exposure, placed among the elite of global cinema, thanks to these productions that are made outside of Cuban state institutions.