The Assembly of Cuban Filmmakers (ACC)an organization of artists based inside and outside the island that advocates for inclusive and uncensored cinema, announced this week its new group of representatives.
The group, made up of 11 people, will officially begin its work in January 2026, replacing the one that currently represents the filmmakers grouped in the Assembly.
Among the figures that make up the new directive, several of those who already fulfilled that function repeat. Among these, important names of the Cuban seventh art stand out, such as the director Fernando PerezNational Film Award, and the renowned actor Luis Alberto García.
Others who remain are the directors and screenwriters Ernesto Daranas and Enrique “Kiki” Álvarezthe critic Gustavo Arcos, the producer Rosa María Rodríguez and the director and producer Manuel Alejandro Rodríguez Yong.
They are joined by the experienced documentary filmmaker and professor Belkis Vega, the director Armando Capó, the director of photography Raúl Prado and the director and animator Ivette Ávila Martín.
By choice
The new group of representatives was elected based on the considerations of the members of the Assembly, after a prior call from which 22 candidates emerged.
“It was an open, democratic, participatory and transparent process” in which “filmmakers of all generations, artistic tendencies and political positions could vote, whether or not they reside in the national territory,” ACC noted from Facebook.
“The essential thing was his thought, commitment and defense of Cuban cinema in all its complexity and variety,” stressed the organization, which thanked all those who issued their criteria for the election.
The Assembly of Cuban Filmmakers (ACC) is an organization that resurfaced in 2023, without convocation or institutional presence, which gained relevance as a result of the censorship of the documentary. Fito’s Havanaby Juan Pin Vilar.
Since then, the ACC has actively participated in public analyzes and debates about culture and cinema on the island, although its stance against censorship and in favor of dialogue has earned it detractors in Cuban cultural institutions and the extremes of political positioning.
While some artists and other people – especially from outside Cuba – question her for her willingness to engage in dialogue and not assume a frontal opposition to the authorities and institutions of the island, others – especially from those around Cuban officials – accuse her of being hypercritical and of serving an alleged political agenda opposed to the cultural fabric and social system of the country.
In one interview with The Young Cubalast August, Fernando Pérez made it clear that any interaction with Cuban officials requires the recognition of the ACC: “There cannot be two Fernando Pérez (…) Not only (is there) the National Film Award, but also the representative of the Assembly of Filmmakers; and as long as that one is not recognized, the other does not exist either.”
