Cinema from Cuba Political Identity and the Freedom of Narration

The latest news from Cuba on the effects of the US embargo is shocking. The screening of two film classics looks at the history of the Cuban film institute ICAIC and the innovative cinematic language of Cuban filmmaking.

In Lucía, Humberto Solás has interpreted the theme of the hundred years' struggle in an entirely novel way to create an epic in three separate episodes: each centred around a woman called Lucía, which takes place in a different period of Cuban history, corresponding to the three stages of Colonialism, Neocolonialism and Socialist Revolution. In Memorias del subdesarrollo, Sergio, an upper middle-class Cuban from Havana is struggling to adjust to the new situation after the revolution. The film is an extraordinary subtle reflection on the Cuban revolution.

In a concluding talk after the film screenings, Akademie president and filmmaker Jeanine Meerapfel and the film director, writer and screenwriter Arturo Sotto will consider historical and present aspects of the intense relationship between cinema and Cuban reality.

In collaboration with the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos – ICAIC.