On April 15, it was announced which projects will receive financial support from the GO CUBA! program this year. Cuba has become quite isolated in the past 2 years, due to the corona crisis. Out of dissatisfaction with the economic malaise and the regime, the population took to the streets en masse in July 2021. Many (particularly young) protesters have recently been sentenced to long prison terms. Against this background, the opportunity for 8 young independent filmmakers to be supported by GO CUBA! has become more important than ever.
Notable this year is the full-length documentary project Cuba y la noche, that uses images captured on mobile phones to show how artists have been protesting the Cuban regime, in order to reclaim their freedom of expression and democratic principles. These kinds of films could not be financed in Cuba. This shows why supporting independent Cuban filmmakers is of great importance.
Other promising short and long film projects represent a cross-section of what Cuban independent cinema has to offer – films with socially relevant themes, such as emigration, the position of women, gender/sexual orientation and the socio-economic relations in the country.
The following 8 projects have been awarded funding this year:
Short:
El espacio roto – Gabriel Aleman, Eduardo Eimil
La otra isla – Jose Manuel Garcia Casado
La cuna – Karelis Herrera Perez
Malena – Lisandra Lopez Fabe
Una copita de vino – Gisselle Vargas
Long:
Cuba y la noche – Sergio Fernandez Borras
El mar - José Luis Aparicio
Calle Cuba entre Sol y Amargura - Vanessa Batista/Guillermo Barbera
The realized projects from previous GO CUBA!-editions will be screened at Rialto de Pijp and Rialto VU during the upcoming edition of World Cinema Amsterdam.
