Today, April 30, 2021, projects receiving financial support within the Go Cuba! programme have been announced, including a striking number of fiction films.
The projects
For World Cinema Amsterdam, supporting (young) film talent is of paramount importance, and this of course also applies to independent Cuban filmmakers. This is why GO CUBA! – an incentive scheme for those very same filmmakers – was set up by World Cinema Amsterdam together with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2015.
In seven years, the fund has supported more than 50 film projects (short as well as long films, documentaries and feature films), and it has become widely known among young Cuban filmmakers. Many of the films the fund helped realise have been featured at various international film festivals
This year we received a total of 46 applications: 26 for short film projects and 20 for full-length films. From all the entries the following 6 short and 2 long projects were selected:
Short:
El encargado – Ricardo Figueredo Oliva
Un pájaro voló – Leinad Pájaro De la Hoz
Welcome Mari – Pilar Natalí Cardet Ricardo
Si alguna vez – Annia Quesada Milord
Libertad – Carla Rodríguez Herrera
Parece Sangre – Rellis Rafael Guedes García
Long:
Los caídos – Damián Sainz Eduardo
El puerto – Claudia García
In addition to the special documentary El Puerto, a striking number of fiction films have been selected this year. Furthermore, submissions included several projects with LGBTQI-related topics, of which GO CUBA! selected the most interesting.
At the start in 2015, one of the goals was to encourage more female Cuban filmmakers to submit film projects. This year, that goal has been met, with 50% of the selected projects submitted by female directors, some of whom are making their film debut.
As World Cinema Amsterdam's 2020 edition had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the upcoming WCA edition (19 – 28 August 2021) will feature extra Cuban films from the GO CUBA! programme.
