ONCE UPON A TIME IN A FILM INSTITUTE CALLED ICAIC
By Sergio Giral
Once upon a time there was a film institute named ICAIC, where I had the opportunity to work while learning how to make films. That happened long time ago, when dreams and promises delighted hearts and minds. My first encounter was Nestor Almendros, a young Spaniard who studied filmmaking at Centre Experimentale de Roma.

Néstor Almendros, The Light.

Nestor and I waited tables in a Greenwich Village Café and talk about movies, from the Italian neo-realism to the French new wave, from the religiosity of Ingmar Bergman to Luchino Visconti’s melodramas, from the epic realism of Akira Kurosawa to the poignant dramas of Satyajit Ray. And in an adventurous leap of faith from New York to Havana, Nestor introduced me to ICAIC, The Cuban Film Institute where he was working as a cinematographer. At ICAIC I  met beautiful young people who like me were determinate to become film directors counting only with their love for cinema and working on educational film projects or as feature film director's assistants.This is the map of my selective memory.

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS



 Juan Carlos, The Kid                 Humberto, The Dreamer              Nicolás, The Poet

                                                  

    Sara, The Brave              Manuel Octavio, The Doer   Me, The Blackexplotation

 Nelson, The Scissors                  Luis, The Image                  Livio, The Perfection 

Pastor, The Lady Killer

Step by step we created our carrer until becoming part of the Dream Machine called Cinema. Those days were strange days, letting ourselves be driven by the passion of making films, to capture reality and return it over the silvery screen, unaware of circunstances the were chainging the country's fate. That was the beginning. We became friends, partners and easily shared our ideas, read our scritps, show the editing process. There were not competition because anyone of us was to busy building its own dream. We were young, the fast and the furious.

THE ADROITS 

There were others who had experiences ahead of us and became an inspiration. To those we looked upon with confidence and admiration They were the Adroits

THE GURU

Titón, The Chosen

Every cluster have its own Guru, we had one. Intelligent, sensitive, honest, talented, rabid, selective, arrogant, popular, shy, brave, decided, hesitant, earthly, astral and protector of lost causes. We look upon him, he was the master and the guide and the Chosen. He was the Guru.

THE HEADS

         Alfredo, The Father of the Creature.        Julio, The Organizer

To create and organize a film industry is not an easy game. They knew how to do it. They chose us among many. They were the only responsible for our fate.  Some of us suffered under their power some other enjoyed it.  They guided us through the complexity of the New Order reflecting on their positive qualities, giving us ideas about thematic and aesthetic values; they inspected, celebrated and banned our films and for that they earned international reputation.They were the Heads.

AS TIME PASS BY

As time passes by each one of us grew up in their own nature, in their own capacity for imagination and skills. Some of us grab the bull by the horn while some others agreed with the reality that kept on growing in the yard. But all of us fought not to become one more instrument of the dictatorial machinery. Finally we became filmmakers and our work traveled around the world. As time passed by there were firing of heroes, traitors and innocents, a code of silence was imposed and we were obliged to follow the cause without protest or spells, taming us into submission. Some of us died, some others stay and some left, but the possibility of making films, to create an universe to our image and likeness made us being gods.