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04/18/12 - Global Voices Online - Cuba: Youth Film Festival Marked by
Controversy

Known until 2011 as the Muestra de Jóvenes Realizadores [Festival of Young
Filmmakers], the 11th [1]Muestra Joven del audiovisual cubano [Youth
Festival of Cuban Audiovisuals] took place this year from the 3rd to the
8th of April. The festival was marked by poor media coverage and the
resignation of its coordinator, director Fernando Pérez.

In [2]“La Muestra”'s opening speech, Fernando Pérez mentioned the main
defining features of this year's festival: the deeply journalistic feel of
the presented documentaries; the great presence of photographic directors;
the (not always successful) attempts and searches in the fictonal
material; and the absence of experimentation in the few animation works
submitted.

Eighty-six films were selected from more than 200 submitted, divided into
fiction, documentaries and animation. The winners of the three respective
categories were: “Camionero” (Sebastián Miló), a tale of intense rawness
that addresses violence in a boarding school; “De agua dulce” (Damián
Saínz), which according to the website [3]Cubacine ‘poetically relates the
turbulence of a contaminated river water to the dark past of a man who
bears witness to his actions'; and “Uvero” (Arian Enrique Pernas), which
‘invokes a disappeared community during a trip where places, characters
and situations come to life' (Cubacine). The prize for risk-taking and
artistic passion went to “La piscina” (Carlos Machado), a long yet daring
film that relies on sound and photography for much of its dramatic effect.

According to Fernando Pérez, his resignation was the result of the ICAIC's
[Cuban Institute of Art and Cinematographic Industry] refusal to show the
documentary “Despertar” (Fernando Figueredo y Anthony Bubaire). The
renowned filmmaker stated that the film was not good in artistic terms,
but that it should be included precisely for that reason- to encourage
debate on audiovisual production.

The documentary in question deals with the life of rapper Raudel Collazo
(S4drón Patriota), who in his songs regularly criticizes social reality in
Cuba and who has been censored in his country. A similar situation came
about in 2010 with the film [4]“Revolution” (Maykell Pedrero), based on
the popular hip hop duo Los Aldeanos.

Fernando Pérez's resignation shocked many in Cuban film circles. It led to
an exchange of emails, in which mostly young filmmakers expressed sadness
because of the absence at “La Muestra” of a man who is considered by some
to be the best living Cuban director, and they called for a reflection and
rejection of the reasons behind his departure. Many of these emails can be
read on the audiovisual critic Juan Antonio García Borrero's blog, [5]Cine
cubano, la pupila insomne.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.cubacine.cult.cu/muestrajoven/
2. http://www.cubacine.cult.cu/muestrajoven/
3. http://www.cubacine.cult.cu/boletin/muestrajoven.html
4.
http://www.google.com.cu/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=revolution%20aldeanos&source=video
&cd=3&ved=0CDwQtwIwAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D3Wne6RS
uGcI&ei=-6iIT_OXLsjDgAfHotnqCQ&usg=AFQjCNE0GR0nAU-6efuJRP_VsIpyftsMfA
5. http://cinecubanolapupilainsomne.wordpress.com/


Original Source / Fuente Original:
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/04/18/cuba-youth-film-festival-marked-by-
controversy/