A few weeks ago I met Dr. Emma Christopher, director of the in progress documentary “They are We” and author of the article “Cubans visit their ancestral home in Africa” published in HT. I asked her how an academic ended up directing a documentary. My students belong to a generation that has grown up with the Internet and with multiple audio-visual resources and they respond very differently to images than to written materials.
Read MoreYanier Gómez is one of the young prodigies trained by the Cuban Ballet School, who was invited to the Stars of American Ballet Gala, presented on the island during Havana’s last International Ballet Festival. “We live with the social challenges that stem from my country’s economic problems,” said Gomez in his interview with HT.
Read More“The stage must be occupied by actors who are alive, who are able to convey a message to the audience, who are full of vitality, this is what I believe. Without tasting this passion for theatre, without feeling the actor’s passion, no one can walk away satisfied from a performance,” says Jose Antonio Alonso in his interview with HT.
Read MoreWe spent some time with the young actress Danae Hernández, talking about her aspirations for the future and the experiences that have marked her growing career in film, TV and theater. “In Cuba, television is the medium that brings you the greatest recognition among the population. People see you on the street and they greet you as if they’d known you for their whole life,” she told HT.
Read MoreFrank Federico Boza has been a professional musician for 35 years and the director of his own ensemble for the last 20. We begin with a look at a rather well-received tendency we see in Cuban music, the use of crude refrains which draw from the language typical of underprivileged sectors of Cuban society.
Read MoreBrought together by their desire to create something that would be different and new to Havana, Ana Maria Padron de Paula, Inger Ponce de Leon Rego and Patricia Gonzalez Rodriguez* opened the gourmet vegetarian restaurant La Buena Vida (“The Good Life”) a year ago in June of 2012. (24 photos)
Read MoreOdette is sitting in front me with her legs crossed, wearing the kind of smile that says you can ask her anything you wish. She is petite and dark-complected, with the full-bottomed figure Cubans describe as “criollita de Wilson” (a caricaturized depiction of a voluptuous female local).
Read More“One of us was at a military base. He was divulging public information, he never had access to anything classified and never looked for it. His job was to compile as much publicly available information about the Cayo Hueso base as he could, because the base is a place where you can pick up signs of a possible terrorist attack against Cuba.”
Read MoreThe embargo is a policy that causes suffering among the Cuban people, but the Cuban government’s posture causes even more suffering among the people. Before we discuss the embargo, which is an issue that divides Cuba’s peaceful opposition, we have to talk about the embargo that the Cuban government has imposed on its own citizens, said Guillermo Fariñas in his interview with DPA news.
Read MoreCuban troubadour Yolo Bonilla shares with us the details of his latest album, the first to ever achieve a fusion of Cuban music and the Brazilian style by rendering original versions of songs in the Portuguese language. “The idea came to me after a concert that was supposed to be a kind of farewell performance.”
Read More