The Film Producers Council did not accept the justification provided by the Cuban government A group of artists reported on their profile for the televised presentation of Juan Bin Vilar’s documentary on Fito Páez. Facebook.
“Yesterday, June 23, 2023 at 9:00 a.m., at the Chaplin Theater in the Cuban capital, a meeting was held by the Ministry of Culture, ICAIC and PCC. The meeting’s agenda was governed by the declaration of the Assembly of Cuban Filmmakers on June 15, 2023, which so far has the support of nearly 600 signatures,” the assembly said in its statement.
The response of the Ministry of Culture to the new measure of exclusion and censorship by the documentary ‘Havana de Fito’ produced by Juan Bin Villarín and Ricardo Figueredo and the conditions under which it was broadcast on national television. Legal grounds for taking this type of action in exceptional circumstances,” the text continued.
Regarding the arrogant position held by the authorities, the artists made their stand clear: “As a union, We express and maintain our complete disagreement with that answer and we condemn it and all similar facts It can happen under any law. They agreed to continue studying the matter.
The Council of Filmmakers said that at the meeting they analyzed “the ongoing activities of censorship, cultural politics and the panorama of current Cuban cinema, filmmakers scattered around the world, different ideologies, generations and trends”.
Inés María Chapman Waugh, the regime’s deputy prime minister, said “there is a willingness to negotiate”. and teamwork to achieve concrete results in the face of all the demands expressed there.
Regarding their next steps, the group said: “We have decided to call a committee in the coming days for an assembly to represent us and act as organizer of future meetings and activities.
Finally, the artists recalled that they retained their interest in having off-island residents: “This assembly will be convened with all filmmakers inside and outside of Cuba. We are already working on guaranteeing the appropriate technology so that it will be a place where Cuban filmmakers from all latitudes will want to participate.”
Ahead of the report, the Ministry of Culture gave a version of the meeting and spoke of creating a “collaborative working platform between ICAIC and filmmakers to address issues of audiovisual and film product development”. This is not mentioned by the artists.
