On her book On Location in Cuba: Street Filmmaking during Times of Transition
Cover Interview of July 05, 2009
A close-up
On Location shares the voices and visions of dozens of Cuban filmmakers. With candor they explain their interest in probing subjects once considered taboo in Cuba—sexuality, domestic violence, drugs, prostitution, housing shortages, censorship, discrimination, and so on. They reflect on the impact of new technologies on their work, and note some of the ongoing challenges of making films in their country. They tell about the ingenious solutions they’ve devised to resolver or make do: with a camera strapped on to his bike, Esteban Insausti pedaled around Havana seeking informants for his documentary on the city’s locos (crazies); Juan Carlos Cremata managed to create a road movie on a shoestring by calling into service his entire family—even casting his grandmother in a role; lacking access to a dolly, Alejandro Pérez rigged up his camera so it would swing in circles from a pole.
Fragment from an animation by Yurina Luis Naranjo, reproduced in the book on page 140
The juxtaposition of these Street Filmmakers’ experiences reveals their diversity and dynamism. Some see themselves as artists above all. Others are more intent on the business of cinema. Some characterize themselves as revolutionaries. Others steer clear of labels altogether. Most are based on the island, but some “commute” to distant locales while still considering Cuba to be their home. The perspectives of these young artists reveal the island and its inhabitants to be complex and nuanced.
[T]he Holocaust transformed our whole way of thinking about war and heroism. War is no longer a proving ground for heroism in the same way it used to be. Instead, war now is something that we must avoid at all costs—because genocides often take place under the cover of war. We are no longer all potential soldiers (though we are that too), but we are all potential victims of the traumas war creates. This, at least, is one important development in the way Western populations envision war, even if it does not always predominate in the thinking of our political leaders.Carolyn J. Dean, Interview of February 01, 2011
The dominant premise in evolution and economics is that a person is being loyal to natural law if he or she attends to self’s interest and welfare before being concerned with the needs and demands of family or community. The public does not realize that this statement is not an established scientific principle but an ethical preference. Nonetheless, this belief has created a moral confusion among North Americans and Europeans because the evolution of our species was accompanied by the disposition to worry about kin and the collectives to which one belongs.Jerome Kagan, Interview of September 17, 2009
A close-up
On Location shares the voices and visions of dozens of Cuban filmmakers. With candor they explain their interest in probing subjects once considered taboo in Cuba—sexuality, domestic violence, drugs, prostitution, housing shortages, censorship, discrimination, and so on. They reflect on the impact of new technologies on their work, and note some of the ongoing challenges of making films in their country. They tell about the ingenious solutions they’ve devised to resolver or make do: with a camera strapped on to his bike, Esteban Insausti pedaled around Havana seeking informants for his documentary on the city’s locos (crazies); Juan Carlos Cremata managed to create a road movie on a shoestring by calling into service his entire family—even casting his grandmother in a role; lacking access to a dolly, Alejandro Pérez rigged up his camera so it would swing in circles from a pole.
The juxtaposition of these Street Filmmakers’ experiences reveals their diversity and dynamism. Some see themselves as artists above all. Others are more intent on the business of cinema. Some characterize themselves as revolutionaries. Others steer clear of labels altogether. Most are based on the island, but some “commute” to distant locales while still considering Cuba to be their home. The perspectives of these young artists reveal the island and its inhabitants to be complex and nuanced.