THE BEST IS YET TO COME

By Sergio Giral

Commonly racism and racial prejudice are result slavery and colonial power. I yet in modern world it’s possible to find it among the most developed societies.  Let’s take for an example United State long history on racism against the African descendant. Without the intention of making an overview on a subject who any civilized person knows nowadays, it’s simply to remind it. United State no matter what racist law may appear on his constitution or presidential periods, achieved to have an African-American president; that tells all. Nevertheless the racial situation in Cuba has a long very shameful saga. Without the intention, once more time, of telling historical facts beyond my films on the subject and any civilized and cultured person may know, I feel the need to approach Black Cubans in Cuba and in exiled.

Today the Cuba government struggle to survive out of an economical and social crisis, result of Soviet Union collapse and the paranoid megalomaniac Fidel Castro’s regime. Day after day flirt with United State searching for new currents to modify anti Castro laws or at least to put a band aid on internal unrest. Things have change since those days when a regular Cuban couldn’t visit Miami to see his or her mother die or just to receive an award or to collect any copyright charge. Since then, many things have change. Today a new immigration law for Cubans allows a five years visa and to remain in USA or six months on each travel. Good for Cubans whenever they are.

Because a regular Cuban family in Cuba lacks on the elemental resources to survive beyond what the regime offers them or what  they can achieve in a complicated and absurd parallel economy, which may include prostitution and or any other estimated bad choices, Miami seems to be a key dream for solution. Maybe it’s right to show the oppressed Cubans what a democracy can offer to any simple citizen by coming to United State, to watch how American have an Afro descendant president, a millionaire Black woman like Ophra and how one of the most successful celebrities like Kardashian marries a black man. That’s not the problem; the problem is what is happening in Cuba with the Black population nowadays and what it’s going to happen someday after the Castro regime falls.  Have you ever thought of that?

In few of my previous post I had expressed my ideas and consideration about the subject “Regardless the Cuban government promised social achievements such as free education and free health care, Cuba continuously fall down into economic crisis lower down white middle class into the traditional Black population economical status, creating a false impression of an egalitarian society. Cubans living under a totalitarian have developed a system of survival for their physical and psychological needs according to what restrictions are imposed the State. Consider well the Black population”.

THE BROKEN IMAGE

In 1959, one of the first acts introduced by the Revolutionary Government of Cuba was the establishment of the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC) which promoted the development of the arts and cinema on the island. State sponsorship opened the door to filmmakers and provided entertainment for the population. However, such good intentions on the part of the Revolution meant sacrifices for the artists.

After the invasion of the Bay of Pigs, Castro's Revolution became socialist and the Communist ideology began to rule the nation. Disagreements between groups of artists and intellectuals with the Government generated an ideological opposition that ended in 1962 with the First Educational and Cultural Congress. At this convention, Fidel Castro defined his political policy towards artists and intellectuals: "With the Revolution, everything...against the Revolution, nothing". This dogmatic dictatorial statement forcibly removed from the game all those who had differing opinions about the cultural program as well as those who were non-committal. Many liberal artists where condemned to silence, while others were forced to seek asylum. The most unfortunate ended up in prison.
A militant cinema was made to promote the Revolution and the advantages of the Socialist system. Cuban films were shown in the most remote places of the island and the people received them with great pleasure. Other Latin American filmmakers, inspired by the Cuban cinema, spread a trend of political documentaries. Cuban cinema turned into an ideological weapon for leftist liberation movements around the world while becoming a frequent winner of international awards.
An extremist government position appeared in the mid-1960's and focused upon those artists and intellectuals who were not considered favorable to the system. Many of them were persecuted as "anti-social elitists" and were forced into labor camps known as UMAP (Military Unit Production Aid).
After this persecution, filmmakers residing in Cuba became more cautious, fulfilling the government's artistic and cultural requirements. Nevertheless, many of their works were gradually affected by censorship. Many scripts were re-written and films re-edited or simply banned or confiscated. As a result of these curbs, three generations of filmmakers abandoned the country seeking freedom of speech abroad. Yet they left a broken image behind, an interrupted flow of creativity which some were able to rescue but others were not.
The Broken Image is a 46 minute documentary film that gathers the most representative exiled Cuban filmmakers, who will recount their personal experiences about having to abandon their work and start a new life away from their country, culture and natural environment. They will also express their ideas on filmmaking in a free context, as well as in a repressive society.
The Broken Image will develop as a journey that will take the viewer from past memories into the present, re-establishing the identity of those filmmakers in exile. This documentary film will exhibit an overview of that fragmented image before it is forgotten or sadly disappears.
Interviews with the participants from the cities where they now live, will let us know about their dreams and realities. Rescued clips of their films and photographs will stand as vivid examples of their lives and cinematography.
The Broken Image aspires to be a tribute to all those who wanted to create a cinema free of dogmatism and suffered of silence and intolerance.