Havana Gets a Cinematic Glimpse Over the Horizon

The world’s largest showcase of Latin American film has opened here, with an estimated 1 million Cuban moviegoers expected to wait patiently in long lines for a cinematic window to the world--and with an emotional appeal to Latin filmmakers in the U.S.

The 22nd International Festival of New Latin American Cinema began this week, and during the next 10 days will feature more than 350 films from 28 countries. Before a capacity crowd of 4,000 at the Karl Marx Theater, the festival began Tuesday night with a brief film tribute to Latin film and a performance by Cuban singer Omara Portuondo, best known to U.S. audiences for her participation in the “Buena Vista Social Club” record and film.

Front and center at the opening-night ceremony was, of course, the Comandante himself, Fidel Castro, though he only stayed long enough to hear Portuondo, leaving before the opening film was shown.

The festival has become an important gathering place for Latin American filmmakers, who regularly find themselves shut out of the distribution process, because American and European distributors dominate the landscape. Many of these films cannot even be seen in their native countries, because Hollywood movies take up more than 90% of the world’s screens.

The lack of screen time for the films, however, does not mean that Latin American cinema is dying. On the contrary, it is going through one of its most vibrant periods, according to festival founder Alfredo Guevara.

“Despite our enormous economic difficulties, there are many, many films being made,” he said in an interview during the first day of the festival. “There are many young people making films--this film industry is alive.”

On the first day of the festival, Guevara, a soft-spoken, bespectacled man, reached out to Latin filmmakers who work in the U.S. Though few American Latino filmmakers are actually at the festival, there are several seminars about Latino film in the U.S. and a photography exhibit of Latinos in Hollywood at Havana’s cinematheque.

“The Latinos in the United States have made their culture and art known and felt in the other America,” Guevara said in his opening-night speech. “For our brothers in the north, who can see us, let us see them as well. Let’s not forget that Latinos, who might have been discriminated against in their new country, are a presence and a cultural reality that is irreversible.”

The speech, made in Castro’s presence, was considered to be a significant gesture toward reconciliation aimed primarily at Cubans in the U.S. Since the Cuban Revolution, relations between Cuban American and Cuban filmmakers have been adversarial. So the outreach on the part of Cubans may be futile--Andy Garcia and other Cuban Americans in the film industry have often stated that they will return to film in Cuba only when Castro is out of power.

Still, it was a gesture appreciated by many.

“It was a big step politically--a real conciliatory move,” said Patricia Boero, director of the Sundance Institute’s international filmmaking programs.

American Presence Is Only Slight

Even though films about or set in Cuba are hot in Hollywood right now--among them “Thirteen Days,” “Original Sin,” “Before Night Falls,” “The Arturo Sandoval Story,” several possible Che Guevara movies and an untitled Cuba project to be produced by former Fox studios chief Bill Mechanic--American filmmakers are notably absent from the festival. By the end of the week, only a small contingent of Americans had arrived, including director Karyn Kusama (“Girlfight”) and Michelle Rodriguez, the star of her movie, and Tony Bui (“Three Seasons”).

Boero, who has represented Sundance at the Havana festival for several years, lamented the fact that more American distributors are not present. Though several American filmmakers, such as Francis Ford Coppola, Robert De Niro, Danny Glover and Robert Redford, have attended the festival in past years, there are few distributors on hand to pick up the films for U.S. studios and independents.

“The festival is an underutilized resource,” Boero said. “It’s the best-kept secret.” The festival is headquartered at the historic Hotel Nacional de Cuba, a towering Moorish-like structure built in 1930 that faces the famous sea wall, the malecon. Through the years, the hotel has attracted world-famous guests, from Winston Churchill to Ava Gardner to Mexican diva Maria Felix.

This year Sundance brought nine films to Havana, including “Girlfight,” “Three Seasons,” “Cookie’s Fortune” and, by special arrangement, USA Films’ “Being John Malkovich,” and “Agnes Browne.” Those films, along with the 300 or so Spanish-language movies, are devoured by Cuban audiences.

The festival is now a national habit. Audiences can discuss independent, Hollywood, European or Latin American film with ease and knowledge. But their favorites are really the Spanish-language films; this is perhaps one of the few countries where Spanish-language films are more popular than English-language works.

Notes Manolo Luis, director of several Cuban radio shows: “In Cuba we have a very long tradition of film. After the revolution, the Cuban Film Institute was founded, and out of the institute, Cuban cinema was born. These movies have made Cubans feel accustomed to Spanish-language films. We enjoy watching these Spanish-language films because they reflect a Latin American reality we can relate to.”

Cubans often schedule their vacation time during the festival so they can spend all day at the movies. Indeed, movie watching is a national pastime. Because it is difficult to find the most up-to-date films in Cuban theaters, the festival offers a glimpse of the larger cinematic world. Although there is a strong video-pirating tradition here, with the most current releases already out on the black market, there are few opportunities to see films in theaters.

So it’s no surprise that during the festival in the city’s 21 theaters--many of them seating 1,000 or more--lines of Cubans of every age snake around corners for blocks. Routinely, the theaters are filled to capacity and many people are turned away.

It’s common here to overhear cabdrivers or waitresses speaking in French or Italian--languages they have picked up while listening to the many tourists now visiting the island. At times you find taxi drivers are actually trained doctors or lawyers, in desperate need of cash, who understand that the tourism industry is the best place to make a living.

Though Cubans, like any mass audience around the world, enjoy some Hollywood blockbusters, they hold a special place for American independent cinema.

“The message is always more interesting,” said 22-year-old Aracelio Torres, who watched the first screening of “Girlfight” with his friend Silvio Ramirez. “To make art you don’t have to spend millions of dollars on special effects,” Torres said. “What is important is reaching people’s hearts and giving a taste of reality. Hollywood doesn’t know how to do that.”