By Helson Hernandez
HAVANA TIMES — Orlando Mora Cabrera and Manuel Ojeda Hernandez, two young people who have come together to do creative work, are tracing a future for themselves in the world of film and are already advancing novel ideas. “We wanted for children to explore their own reality,” Orlando tells us during his interview for Havana Times.
HT: What issues do you invite people to reflect on in this theater piece with children?
Manuel Ojeda: It all begins when a group of children gather in a very symbolic place in Havana: the Malecon ocean drive. These children, on seeing a shooting star, make wishes. The spiritual concerns of these children thus come to light and turn into conflicts which drive the plot of the piece.
HT: Does the recurrent motif of the star have any concealed dramatic intention?
MO: We use the star as a symbolic element that contrasts with the realism of all of the play’s conflicts. The reflections that the play prompts, regarding the realization of personal and spiritual dreams, the wish to accomplish something seemingly impossible, given a certain social reality, all revolve around the star. We want for all of that to convey a refusal to give up the innocence and naivety of that stage in life, childhood.
HT: It isn’t the traditional play with children acting.
HT: Tell us about the use of audiovisual materials in the play.
OM: We use it to justify the absence of adults in the play, supporting the plot, perhaps, with images that take us back to the origin of the conflicts between these kids, the characters of the play.
For instance, we shot a morning activity at a primary school, which is where the story of the Jehovah’s Witness, Santiago, takes place. These materials give the play much realism, a realism one doesn’t often see in the theater, perhaps because of space issues. These moving images have a documentary feel because of the real locations and lighting we used and, for these, we used mostly improvisation.
OM: I’m 20 and I’m currently studying at the Faculty of Communications at the Higher Institute for the Arts (ISA). I am particularly interested in directing after completing my studies.
MO: I’m 25. In my case, I initially studied fine arts at the Vicentina de las Torres Academy in the province of Camaguey. Now I’m pursing the same program of studies as my friend Orlando, I’m in second year of the Audiovisual major. I would like to specialize in photography.
HT: How does the audiovisual medium express your personal interests?
OM: The audiovisual world is the means I use to convey an entire world of inner sensations and perceptions of the social environment. Sometimes these are simple dissatisfactions and concerns that affect me as an individual. My aim is to develop a series of skills and to place these at the service of society, and this medium gives you the possibility of developing a whole series of genres.
HT: You’ve worked creatively as a team
HT: Where will the play premiere?
OM: There’ll be three premieres in Havana, on July 17, 18 and 19. Then there’ll be a more regular series of showings at the Loyola de Fe y Cultural Center. The address is Estrella, between Belascoain and Gervasio. The entrance is at the back of the Sagrado Corazon church in Centro Habana.
HT: What audiovisual project would you like to work on after graduating?
OM: I couldn’t say right now, I would first need to discover many things. The concerns I have now may not be the same ones I have a few years down the line.
MO: I would like to do independent cinema, but, bearing in mind the economic reality of the country I live in, we’d have to wait and see what the future holds in store for us.
Israel has ordered 100,000 Palestinians living in eastern Rafah to evacuate ahead of an Israeli…
"Does anyone know how many people in Cuba actually produce value, and how many idlers…
We face discrimination; no one wants to hear what's wrong; everyone wants to hear what's…
In order to improve navigation and features, Havana Times uses cookies.