the troubadour silvio rodriguezpianist and composer Jose Maria Vitier and another hundred artists joined the statement of the Cuban filmmakers about what happened days ago with the documentary Fito’s Havanaby director Juan Pin Vilar.
A total of 181 artists, including filmmakers, musicians, writers, intellectuals and professionals close to cinema, joined the 58 initial signatories a few hours after the manifesto was released. The text criticizes the “successive errors” of cultural institutions on the island around the exhibition of the aforementioned documentary.
However, the number of people who have confirmed their support for the declaration is even higher, according to what was reported by the AAssembly of Cuban Filmmakers, on whose Facebook profile the text was originally published.
“There are people who have been writing, expressing their support and whose names have not yet appeared,” said the organization, which confirmed that as long as it has “a significant number” of new members, it will continue to update the list.
Together with Silvio and José María, undoubtedly two of the most notable figures of Cuban music in recent decades, other renowned artists joined the declaration.
Among them we can mention the screenwriter Senel Paz, the director Gerardo Chijona, the also director Eduardo del Llano, the actresses Laura de la Uz and Yailene Sierra, the actors Néstor Jiménez and Héctor Noas, and Juan Pin Vilar and Ricardo Figueredo themselves, director and producer, respectively, of Fito’s Havana.
Also, the plastic artist silvia rodriguezthe writer Margarita Mateo, the researcher and musicographer Rosa Marquetti, the comedian Ulises Toirac, the musicians Polito Ibañez and Gema Corredera, and the critics Frank Padrón, Joel del Río and José Rojas Bez.
Along with them is a large group of filmmakers from different specialties, many of them young.
As will be recalled, among the original signatories of the declaration are renowned figures such as directors Fernando Pérez, Manuel Pérez, Ernesto Daranas, Rebeca Chávez and Magda González Grau; the actors Luis Alberto García and Jorge Perugorría, the screenwriters Arturo Arango and Amilcar Salatti, and the critics and researchers Gustavo Arcos and Juan Antonio García Borrero.
In the manifesto, the filmmakers and other signatory artists consider that the decisions made by cultural institutions and officials about the documentary at the center of the controversy “have revealed the irresponsible way in which the officials involved in these acts act.”
They point out that “beyond the criteria that may arise from the appreciation” of the documentary, “successive errors” have been made, such as the suspension of the projection of this and two other works based on the theater group El Ciervo Encantado on April 29 , as well as presenting an unfinished copy on television “ignoring the refusal of its director and its producer, and with the explicit purpose of discrediting them.”
In addition, they criticize the publication of statements that “manipulate what happened”, which, in their opinion, “offer false interpretations of the Copyright Law”, among other weighty arguments.
The filmmakers affirm that “the actions of these cultural authorities have repeatedly violated ethical principles that should be the support of any respectful and constructive dialogue” and they assure that they will initiate “a set of work actions to try to solve these problems”. .
Fito’s Havana is a documentary from last year, directed by Juan Pin Vilar and produced by Ricardo Figueredo. Shows the relationship between the famous Argentine musician Fito Páez and Havana through interviews, testimonies and archive images, in accordance with the Digital Encyclopedia of Cuban Audiovisual.
Since his exhibition at El Ciervo Encantado was canceled —together with existby the filmmakers Fernando Fraguela and Yulier Rodríguez, and The one in chargeby Ricardo Figueredo— the controversy surrounding the work has grown, which was revived after its screening on the program critical viewer without the consent of its makers and the criticism received there.
