Cuba: Living Between Hurricanes
Screening 10 December 2019
From the producer Jean Stubbs
Havana was buzzing in December 2019 for the 44th International Film Festival. The Hotel Nacional, the Festival’s iconic second HQ (a splendid house in the same neighbourhood of Vedado hosts the Festival’s main offices as well as exhibitions and events), again saw filmmakers and aficionados mingling on its patios and in its gardens, while audiences packed some of the city’s major cinemas. With its focus on Latin America, there were award-winning films from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico as well as Cuba. We always knew our launch screening of Cuba: Living Between Hurricanes would, by comparison, be a small lateral event. We had been filming in Cuba June/July 2019; over the summer we were deep in the throes of editing in the UK so we were unable meet the Festival’s August submission deadline; and in October, when we returned with the first cut, Festival organisers were facing the uncertainties of a new energy shortage, which meant they did not know how many cinemas would be functioning come December. Yet it was important for us to be there, to screen the documentary with those who had worked with us, and to let it be known the documentary had been completed and would be available online and for future screenings in the New Year. Also, our Director Michael Chanan had been invited by the Festival to speak on the late legendary Cuban documentary filmmaker Santiago Alvarez, whose legacy has influenced his own work, and we were given guest treatment at the Festival.
Much planning of our own went into the screening. Back in October, we visited ARTeHOTEL, recently opened by Spanish photographer Héctor Garrido and Cuban actress Laura de la Uz, a husband and wife team. We saw its projection facilities, with seating for up to 40, and learnt it could lay on a reception after. This meant we had a guaranteed venue. We also wanted as many as possible of those who had participated in the filming to be present, and for those who could come from Caibarién we were able to underwrite their transport and accommodation in Havana. In the event, others in the audience, some now living in Havana, another as far afield as Paris, were also from Caibarién and discussions are now ongoing with them, as also others in Havana, for follow-up screenings and debate on the issues raised in the documentary.
We were particularly pleased to have with us Liliana Núñez Vélis, President of our partner institution, the Antonio Núñez Jiménez Foundation for Nature and Humanity, and Anthony Stokes, British Ambassador to Cuba, to say a few words at the outset. The British Embassy was involved in aid for Hurricane Irma reconstruction and has climate change as one of its priorities for future work with Cuba, so we, and the Foundation, look forward to possible future ventures with the Embassy.
We also had a panel after the screening with two film critics, Camagüey-based Juan Antonio García Borrero (aka Juany) and Maria Luisa Ortega, from Spain. They were moved to reflect on how the documentary had made them think about issues in their own lives, Juany in terms of small towns past and present, and Maria Luisa on the vulnerability of tourism-dependent areas of Spain such as the Canary Islands. Debate then turned to the pros and cons of getting the documentary and discussion about it ‘out there’, on television and social media and in communities – no mean feat, but one we left energised to take on as 2020 unfolds.