Cuba, country of cinema
While the Lumière operators travelled the world and Edison's kinetoscopes invaded theaters and fairs, Cuba saw the arrival of cinema in its territory at the end of the 19th century. Thus, on July 24, 1897, Gabriel Veyre organized the first projection in the country's history, a few steps from the Teatro Tacón, which today has given way to the Gran Teatro de la Habana. This filmmaker was also in charge of the first cinematographic production made on the island, Simulacrum of Fire (1897), which honored the Havana firefighters. The first decades of Cuban cinema were rich in historical films, happily drawing from literature and national mythologies to feed a continuous production inspired as much by Hollywood cinema as by French comedies. Among the main filmmakers of this period were Enrique Díaz Quesada, author of the first Cuban feature films such as El capitán Mambi (1914) and Duelo como en París (1916), and Ramón Peón, who made more than a dozen films in the 1930s, including La Virgen de la caridad (1930) and Romance del Palmar
(1938), starring the actress and singer Rita Montaner. In 1958, Cuba was a film paradise. With more than 80 feature films produced on the island, and some 600 movie theaters in operation, the country surpassed its large neighbors such as Mexico, and rivaled the nearby United States. Havana had 134 movie theaters, more than Paris and even New York at the same time. The revolution and the establishment of state control over the film industry radically changed the situation. Even if the seventh art had a real place in Fidel Castro's policy, the boycott of American productions and the drastic reduction in the number of films available dealt a terrible blow to theaters. On the side of national productions, the Instituto Cubano del Arte y la Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC) was founded in 1959, under the direction of Alfredo Guevara. Far from interrupting or curtailing creativity, he pushed young filmmakers to diversify their approaches and to go against the grain of "capitalist" cinema. Documentary film became a form in its own right in this new movement, while figures such as Tomás Gutiérrez Alea or Humberto Solás appeared. Death of a Bureaucrat (1966), Lucia (1968) or Memories of Underdevelopment (1968) are some of their most famous fictions, representatives of what screenwriter and director Julio García Espinosa calls "imperfect cinema". A cinema that is aware of the struggles and obstacles that Cubans have faced, and that transposes them to the screen without filters. A legacy that, despite a diversification of productions, is still found in recent Cuban cinema. Filmmakers such as Fernando Pérez, with Clandestine (1987) or Suite Habana (2003), continue to reflect on recent Cuban history, in films where music plays a key role. Today, despite the reopening to big Hollywood productions, the ICAIC remains an important institution in Latin America, and Cuba remains a nerve center of Latin American cinema. This is evidenced by the renown of its Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión, founded in 1986 by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, as well as the Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, which has been held every December since 1979, and awards the coveted Gran Coral of Cinema. A must-see for lovers of the seventh art when visiting the island.When the world discovered Cuba
Socialist paradise for some, musical haven for others, Cuba has inspired many international filmmakers and attracted the cameras of the greatest directors. The story of Ernesto (Che) Guevara has of course been one of the sources of inspiration for them, but Ernest Hemingway's stays or the rhythms of the Buena Vista Social Club have been just as much. Wim Wenders' 1999 documentary Buena Vista Social Club was a critical success and won numerous awards in Europe and the United States. And adaptations of Hemingway's work such as The Old Man and the Sea (1958) with Spencer Tracy are also part of the island's cinematographic heritage, filmed in particular in the bay of Cojimar. For the anecdote, it is also around the figure of the writer that the first post-revolutionary Hollywood film was made on the island. Papa, directed by Bob Yari (2015), marks the return of American productions after more than fifty years of absence. The opportunity to rediscover on screen the places where the author lived between 1939 and 1960, including his villa in Finca Vigia, now a museum, or the Bar El Floridita, founded more than 200 years ago and a landmark in the capital. Finally, it is impossible to talk about Cuba in the cinema without mentioning the little-known masterpiece of Russian filmmaker Mikhail Kalatozov, Soy Cuba. Now a pantheon of the great films of the 20th century, this black and white drama was poorly received at the time of its release, and forgotten before being rediscovered in the late 1990s. Since then, it has become an integral part of both Russian and Cuban cinematographic heritage, winning an award at Cannes in 2004 for its innovative techniques and unique style. Today, Cuba is home to a different style of international productions. Thus, you will find the streets of Havana in Fast and Furious 8 (2018), as well as in the musical thriller Guava Island (2018) with Rihanna and Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino. It takes all kinds to make a cinephile.
Cines de Cuba
Finally, if we borrow this title from the work of the photographer Carolina Sandretto, who has traced their history with beautiful portraits, it is because the architectural heritage of the cinemas of the island is at least as interesting as the films that were shown there. The facades of these cinemas, such as Cine Acapulco, Cine Payret or La Riviera , illuminate the streets of Havana, witnesses of the glorious past of a country still in love with cinema, and happy to share this fascination with tourists and film lovers from all over the world.
