CubitaNOW Newsroom ~ Thursday, June 1, 2023
Cuban filmmaker Juan Pin Vilar today published a letter to Cuba’s ruler-elect, Miguel Díaz-Canel, accusing the censorship of his documentary Havana de Fito.
Pin Vilar said he found out about the “blockade” through social networks and in particular through the complaint from the headquarters of the theater group El Ciervo Encantado.
The Cuban filmmaker pointed out that he had met with an official from the Ministry of Culture and with the Argentine ambassador without making any difference, after which he decided to send a letter to Díaz-Canel, which he later received in reply his complaint was addressed to the Ministry of Culture.
The journalist, who is also a journalist, called the censorship of his audiovisual work a “regrettable act” and reiterated that he was proud that it could be seen outside of Cuba but “not on the island”, confirming the validity of the documentary’s blockade.
This is the full letter:
Havana, June 1, 2023. IV Pandemic year.
Mr President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez
The death of Santiago Feliú had a profound impact on the relationship that Fito Páez and I have had for many years. Our friendship extends beyond parties and downloads and satisfies our curiosity about the most diverse topics of thought and life. We are two friends who tell stories and feelings through art.
For this reason, I have decided to leave young people an account of the wonderful, changing and intense life we lead, while paying homage to another friend that death has taken from us: Juan Formell.
We sat on a rooftop in Havana and filmed what friendship and Cuba mean to Fito. What he injected into our veins: Another vision of the vast universe of possibilities that exist beyond the sea horizon, seen from the Havana promenade. That outward gaze didn’t exist for the vast majority of young Cubans of my generation, simply because you couldn’t travel in our country unless you wanted to stay and live in another country permanently or the government sent you. We weren’t even allowed to have contact with foreigners; let alone enter a hotel. Let’s remember that back then there was neither internet nor satellite telephony.
Mr President, the ban on exhibitions of “Havana de Fito” confirms my thesis: what is passed on to young people as a mistake was and is conscious policy, which will continue to be carried out. And censorship is deplorable unless justified by a universal cause that harms people and their ethical values. “Havana de Fito” is not the case.
The best solution to this disrespectful, mediocre and unfair action, from the anonymity of an authority on behalf of the Ministry of Culture, is the screening of the documentary at the Chaplin Cinema, as also agrees and has happened with the rest of the winning films of the Fund for the Promotion of Cuban Cinema .
Mr President, Fito Páez is my friend. I will not allow my silence to be used to lie to you with delays and arguments that legitimize absurd and out of context policies and only reinforce the media’s discrediting of our country through no fault of the citizens.
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