Presentation
During the last decades, Cuban audiovisual production has configured a crucial territory for political and social debate. It obsessively generates narratives that seek to reorder Cuban history, addresses and discusses notions such as memory, history and the past as fundamental axis to renegotiate the present. The colloquium Addressing the Past: Memory and the Revolution Cuban in 21st Century Cuban Film and Media seeks to encourage discussion and debate on contemporary Cuban cinema, the complex political reality, the island’s cinematographic environments and its challenges.
Program
Thrusday, April 7
Talks with Filmmakers I (14:00 – 16:00 GMT-4)
- Filmmakers: Violena Ampudia, Irene Gutiérrez, Alejandro Alonso, Carla Valdés León
- Discussant: Lauren Peña, University of Texas at Austin
- Moderators: Isdanny Morales and Reynaldo Lastre
Talks with Filmmakers II (17:00 – 19:00 GMT-4)
- Filmmakers: Eliecer Jiménez Almeida, José Luis Aparicio and Carlos Melián
- Discussant: Juan Carlos Rodríguez, Georgia Tech
- Moderators: Isdanny Morales and Nils Longueira Borrego
Friday, April 8
Opening Remarks (9:20 GMT-4)
Panel 1. Memory and Counter Memory (9:30 – 11:30 GMT-4)
Presentations:
- “La contramemoria: intervenciones en el pasado revolucionario. El cine documental en Cuba (2010-2019)”. Ángel Pérez, New Latin American Film Festival
- “Cine cubano en cuarentena: Archives, Histories, and Variants of Cuban Cinema”. Dunja Fehimović, Newcastle University
- “Pasados no pasados: memoria y archivo en Sueños al pairo (2020) de José Luis Aparicio y Fernando Fraguela”. Isdanny Morales, University of Chile
- “Sentimental Misnomers: Carla Valdés León’s Los puros (2020) and Carlos Barba Salva’s Las polacas (2020)”. Jacqueline Loss, University of Connecticut
Moderator: Cristian Saldía, Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción
Panel 2. Dissident Identities and Gender Debates (12:00 – 13:30 GMT-4)
Presentations:
- “Confined Spaces and the Margins of Cuban Revolutionary Society in Pavel Giroud’s El Acompañante (2016)”. Lauren Peña, University of Texas at Austin
- “Entre el deseo y la sujeción. Mujeres transgénero en los documentales Tacones cercanos (2008) de Jessica Rodríguez y En el cuerpo equivocado (2010) de Marilyn Solaya”. Astrid Santana Fernández de Castro, Universidad de La Habana
- “Geopolitics of Caribbean Bodies: Tourism and Sex in Transatlantic Films Made in Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic”. Justo Planas, Florida International University
Moderator: Mónica González, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso
Opening Keynote Address (14:30 GMT-4)
- “Affective Landscapes and Nostalgia: Revolución y Desilusión”. Ana M. López, Tulane University
Saturday, April 9
Panel 3. Archives, Cuban Cinema and Digital Media (9:30 – 11:00 GMT-4)
Presentations:
- “News out of Cuba: Digital Media, Suspicion, and the State”. Laura-Zoë Humphreys, Tulane University
- “La travesía del oído: memoria acústica y archivos sonoros en Isla de Eliecer Jiménez Almeida”. Juan Carlos Rodríguez, Georgia Tech
- “Social Media Networks and Archival Remediation in Cuban Documentary Film”. Zaira Zarza, University of Montreal
Moderator: Maybel Mesa, Lycoming College
Panel 4. Dystopian Regimes and Citizenship (11:30 – 13:30 GMT-4)
Presentations:
- “Sudar el totalitarismo: el cine cubano contemporáneo como régimen distópico”. Dean Luis Reyes, Independent Scholar
- “Reimaginando el ‘pueblo’ en el siglo XXI cubano: Persona de Eliecer Jiménez Almeida y la nación fallida”. Nils Longueira Borrego, Yale University
- “Espectros, hauntología y avatars en el cine cubano independiente”. Reynaldo Lastre, University of Connecticut
- “Challenging the State Dystopia: Redefining Community through Cuban Independent Film”. Michelle Leigh Farrell, Fairfield University
Moderator: Eduardo Urios-Aparisi, University of Connecticut
Closure Keynote Address (14:30 GMT-4)
- “Sensing Black Futures in Sara Gómez’s Archives”. Susan Lord, Queen’s University
Film Screenings
Streaming on demand via Festhome. (Available online for free during the event.)
- Los puros (Carla Valdés León, 2020)
- El rodeo (Carlos Melián, 2021)
- Utopía 360 (Violena Ampudia, 2020)
- Tundra (José Luis Aparicio Ferrera, 2021)
- Sueños al pairo (José Luis Aparicio Ferrera and Fernando Fraguela, 2020)
- Abisal (Alejandro Alonso, 2021)
- Veritas (Eliecer Jiménez Almeida, 2021)
- Entre perro y lobo (Irene Gutiérrez, 2020)
Transmission details
The colloquium Addressing the Past: Memory and the Revolution Cuban in 21st Century Cuban Film and Media will be broadcast live on April 7, 8 and 9 on different platforms:
- Facebook Rialta
- Facebook No Country Magazine
- YouTube
- Film Screenings: Festhome
Organizers
- Nils Longueira Borrego, Yale University
- Isdanny Morales, Universidad de Chile
- Reynaldo Lastre, University of Connecticut
Sponsors
- University of Connecticut (Department of Literatures, Cultures & Languages, LCL Spanish; The John N. Plank Lecture Series)
- Yale University (Yale Graduate and Professional Student Senate; Yale MacMillan Center Council on Latin American and Iberian Studies; Yale University Department of Spanish and Portuguese; The Latin American Series at Yale Law School)
- Universidad de Chile (Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios en Filosofía, Artes y Humanidades)
- Rialta, Alianza Iberoamericana para la Literatura, las Artes y el Pensamiento, AC
- No Country Magazine
