The film “Blue Heart”, directed by Miguel Coyula, cannot be seen by its natural audience, Cubans, despite its excellent reception abroad.
Blue Heart premiered in April 2021 during the 43rd edition of the Moscow International Film Festival, the second oldest film competition in the world.
Its action takes place in a dystopian reality: Fidel Castro believes that only through genetic engineering can the “new man” be created that will save socialism, which is why he orders several experiments, however, they all fail in their original aim and instead become violent beings born that threaten to bring the political institutions of the communist island to a standstill.
But beyond that first read, the film warns of the risks of manipulating people’s behavior, posture, and emotions.
“What happened to ‘Corazón azul’ is that it’s had a good international run since it premiered. It won an award at the Guadalajara International Film Festival,” Havana-based Martí told Radio Televisión, the filmmaker who works without institutional support, so he has to manage production costs and get distribution and exhibition. , in addition to taking on the risks of government Censorship.
The film took part in the BAFICI festival in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the largest and most prestigious independent cinema event in Latin America.
He was also part of the official selection in the feature film competition at the 34th edition of the Rencontres de Toulouse Cinélatino Festival.
“The reviews everywhere have been very good, but for the past two years in Cuba we’ve only had private screenings in secret rooms, without being able to publish it on the networks,” lamented the director.
The film has been shown at alternative locations in Havana, such as the Santa Mía de la Talla community project, founded in Guanabacoa by Omni Zona Franca musician David, and the Coco Solo Social Club in Marianao.
“Most recently, on November 24th, the Norwegian embassy showed it in their ‘Cinema under the Stars in the Open Air’ room for a screening that was really impressive because it was filled with 200 people and many stayed outside because there wasn’t one There was no more room for them to sit. ‘ said Coyula.
“At home we performed it every Sunday in front of an audience of 10 to 15 people, including the programmers from the Havana Film Festival, who saw it and at no point told us to do it with It was something with my film Memories of Development, which one of the programmers told me to send, but like my 2017 documentary Nobody, we sent it and they didn’t even reply to us,” he said.
“Memorias del desarrollo” (2010), winner of more than a dozen international awards, supported by a Guggenheim grant and named the best Cuban film of 2011 by the International Film Guide, has never been screened in cinemas or official institutions on the island.
For this reason, Coyula has decided not to present “Corazón azul” at the Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana in 2022.
“We’re saying why we’re going to do it when there’s obviously no intention of fighting for it to be shown, because what’s happening with the film is I imagine it’s difficult as it’s totally anti-systemic the programmer fights for it to be exhibited at a festival in a totalitarian context like this; more, how is the situation with cultural policy in Cuba now,” he stressed.
The film stars Lynn Cruz and Carlos Gronlier.
Since 1959, the ICAIC (Cuban Institute for Arts and Film Industry) has maintained its authority over the structures of production, exhibition, dissemination, promotion and maintenance of the national heritage.
“And what happened to me is that I always thought of doing a truly independent cinema without asking for support from ICAIC or any Cuban institution. It’s kind of the only way to have freedom in terms of content and the way independent cinema should be, beyond the way it’s funded.”
“What happens in Cuba is that there are many degrees of independence and dependence, because from that moment your screenplay must be approved by the Fund for the Promotion of Cuban Cinema, a fund created by Decree 373 to support the independent audiovisual Manage to regulate , it’s a bit absurd that ICAIC itself, the film industry itself, is the one giving you an independent filmmaker card,” he said.
Legislative Decree 373 of the Independent Audiovisual and Cinematographic Creator establishes that the ICAIC is “the governing body of the audiovisual and cinematographic activity for which it promotes the production, distribution, exhibition, promotion, commercialization and preservation of cinema and controlled, […] Respect of artistic criteria anchored in the Cuban cultural tradition and in the goals of the revolution that allow and guarantee the climate of creative freedom”.
“So I stayed away from all that, to me it’s a sword of Damocles. Of course, at a point where you sign that, later they can censor the film or anything they interpret,” Coyula concluded.