Does Independent Cinema Really Exist in Cuba?
HAVANA TIMES – As I descended the stairs at the Loma de la Cruz on one of my morning walks, a poster on the front door of the House of Stories Cultural Center caught my attention. I decided to come nearer and take a picture with my cellphone. When I turned around to resume my walk, a pair of police officers – a man and a woman – were standing in front of me. I said hello. They wanted to know why I took that picture. They asked for my ID. I gave it to them. I explained my reasons. They allowed me to continue on my way.
The second time I was stopped for the same reason was at the San Jose Park. After asking them for permission, I was taking a photo of some friends who suffer from extreme poverty and alcoholism, and who were sitting on the ground there near the church. Like the other time, when I looked up there were two police, again a man and a woman, asking for my papers. They wanted to know what I was carrying in my bag, in addition to why I was taking the photo. After the woman communicated by radio and read off the details of my ID card that she was holding, they let me proceed.
The third time was when I observed an enormous line at the pharmacy on the corner of Maceo Street and Aricochea. I was coming from the Las Flores Park and I took a picture. I hadn’t even turned the corner when a policeman on his motorcycle, wearing high boots and a very blue uniform, stopped me.
On this occasion, he didn’t demand to see any documents, but there was no lack of questions: he wanted to know whether I was a journalist, and why I was taking the photo. I answered, and the matter didn’t go any further. But in terms of perturbing me, yes it did. In this kind of system, many aspects of life end up being politically delicate, although they wouldn’t seem to be.
I ask myself: if these have been my experiences while merely taking photos in the street, what does that tell me about independent filmmaking in Cuba? Yet, as it turns out, I saw a program on Cuban TV regarding audiovisuals in the country, and they spoke about an independent project of this type on the part of young creative people in Nuevitas, a town in Camaguey province.
I couldn’t believe it! If they stopped me for a photo, well I don’t want to know what would have happened if I’d been recording. However, at some moment the television anchor declared on that TV program that this work being done in the audiovisual medium was supported by the Hermanos Sainz Association, an institution created by the government. That clarification dispelled my doubts. Because in this country, really independent media and audiovisual production are not allowed.
Obviously, circumstances can change. The fact that I’ve experienced the things I’ve written about here doesn’t mean that things will always be this way. But in a country where the government considers free expression to be a danger or a threat, to the point of criminalizing it in their decrees, they’re already stifling many aspects of development. For example, in art. For this to be authentic, vigorous, it needs to count on that thing we call freedom.
There are no shortcuts here. The creative sprit itself demands it. Otherwise, they’ll be constructing something that may seem acceptable to them, because it legitimizes their power for example, and then spread the good news that art is supported here, together with the rest of the world. But, watch out – “Everything that sounds Italian, isn’t Italian.”
History will have the job of determining for certain if this was achieved or not. As it has always done, with that truthfulness that only emerges over time.