Contemporary Cuban Cinema

Contemporary Cuban Cinema: New Spaces, New Histories

Welcome to the website of the Contemporary Cuban Cinema seminar series, 2012-13, a joint series led by Dr Guy Baron of the department of Department of Modern Languages at Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK and Dr Antonio Pitaluga of the Faculty of Philosophy and History at the University of Havana, Cuba. These seminars have been made possible by a grant from the British Academy UK-Latin American/Caribbean Link Scheme.

The project is aimed at achieving a greater understanding of the link between Cuban film and society post-1990. Many studies have been conducted that develop the understanding of Cuban film and society before 1990. These studies develop the link between the development of a revolutionary consciousness across Cuban arts and the attempt to deliver expressions of that consciousness through the medium of film. However, post-1990, when Cuba suffered the worst crisis in its revolutionary history due to the collapse of European communism, many points of ideological reference shifted and therefore new expressions of that shift were developed in Cuban cinema in order to come to terms with the enormous economic and social changes that took place. It is the purpose of this investigation to examine the expressions of these changes to determine to what extent the state integrates such filmic expressions into the official ideology in a continuously evolving process.

The seminars will enable scholars from the UK, the USA and Cuba to bring together their ideas on contemporary Cuban film and its link with Cuban society in order to develop a more complete understanding, not only of Contemporary Cuban cinema per se but also of how Cuban society develops its cultural output at times of severe crisis. It is important that, at such culturally difficult times in the UK and abroad, when severe budget cuts are preventing associations between cultures, knowledge is shared and transferred between ostensibly distant cultures in order to foster greater understanding and harmony between the UK and Cuba.

It has been twenty years since the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe had such a profound effect on Cuba’s economic, social and cultural well-being. During that time Cuban cinema has developed in a distinct way, operating both within and without the official state film institute to express both its satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the continuing revolutionary process.

In Cuba, cinema has always been, and still is, part of the cultural foundation of the revolution and continued research in this area is necessary in order to continue to understand such a globally significant process. It is the aim of these seminars to develop that understanding and to foster a sustainable cultural relationship between Aberystwyth University and the University of Havana.