The Defunct Young Cuban Filmmakers Showing
HAVANA TIMES – This week we have drawn on the disappeared Young Filmmakers Showing of Cuban cinema. For many years that space was a representative showcase of young and independent cinema and saw its end due to censorship.
It was a strange mix: the government’s Film Institute sponsoring independent art.
It was the documentary Sueños al pairo, by the filmmakers José Luis Aparicio Ferrera and Fernando Fraguela Fosado, the watershed in the 19th edition of the Sample, when it was censored by the presidency of the ICAIC (Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry). The event led several filmmakers to withdraw their works from the event in support of the authors of the censored documentary.
This event set an important precedent. It showed several artists in open disagreement with the institution that tried to separate the creators and their work, for “political and ideological” reasons.
Some artists have said that it would be ideal to recover the Exhibition, with total independence from the government and taking advantage of online platforms and the reach of networks. “It doesn’t make much sense to depend on the ICAIC, much less to demand an independent film showing from it,” they said.
Wimar Verdecia Fuentes
