MIAMI, United States. – The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMFTA), in California, United States, will host the event “Cuban Cinema without Borders” from October 23 to November 16 this year, according to reports the institution’s own website.
According to the presentation note of the exhibition, written by Cuban journalist and director Lázaro González, the series not only honors contemporary filmmakers, but also pays tribute to the pioneer of Cuban cinema. Nicolas Guillen Landrian (1938-2003).
González stressed that Landrián, who suffered marginalization and exile due to state censorship, remains an emblematic figure for Cuban filmmakers facing similar challenges today.
He also said that the series celebrates “the invaluable curatorial practice of URGE [Instituto Internacional de Artivismo ‘Hannah Arendt’] by including many titles screening at the festival, and also pays tribute to Landrián’s legacy with West Coast premieres of his recently restored documentaries.”
The creation of the INSTAR Film Festival in the year 2019 by the artist Tania Bruguera It was a crucial moment for Cuban independent cinema. This festival, dedicated to supporting independent film production, especially in countries where freedom of expression is threatened, has provided an essential platform for Cuban filmmakers.
The series also reflects on what academic Ana López described in the 1990s as the cinema of “Great Cuba,” a cinematic corpus that seeks to reconstruct national history and identity both inside and outside of exile, González wrote.
The films to be presented ―including the documentary Landrian, by Ernesto Daranas, and the fiction film The wild womanby Alán González― not only address the theme of exile, but also explore the symbolism of motherhood and the context of political and social unrest in Cuba.
“The series is a testament to the power of independent cinema to challenge and redefine national narrative,” González said.
This event is sponsored by the INSTAR Film Festival in collaboration with the Department of Film and Media at the University of California, Berkeley. The series also features the participation of prominent Cuban film professionals such as José Luis Aparicio Ferrera, Tania Bruguera, Luis Tejera of Altahabana Films, and Alfredo Calvino of Habanero Film Sales, among others.
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