The Film Archive of the University of California, Los Angeles announced the execution of an agreement with the Cinematheque of Cuba to restore some Cuban films as part of a restoration program of Latin American cinema. This agreement between the two organizations from the United States and Cuba was made possible by the recent announcement of the start of normalization of relations between the two countries.
The project, called “Latin American Cinema Classic in Los Angeles (1932 – 1960)”, is also part of the cultural initiative “Pacific Standard Time: LA / LA” from the Getty Foundation. As part of the program are included in the list Argentine and Mexican films to be restored, which are in an early stage of evaluation and research of materials.
Luciano Castillo, director of the Cinematheque of Cuba, told OnCuba for the time being the selected films are Casta de Roble, by Manolo Alonso and Cuba baila, by Julio García Espinosa. He described the project as “ambitious and promising” for all that means to restore and recover these movies.
Castillo explained that “to choose these films we assess the ones in worst conditions ” and clarified that the period selected by the project closes with Cuba baila, one of the films to be considered due to its deterioration from moisture and heat. He also explained that other objectives was to obtain final versions of the films in DCP (Digital Cinema Package), subtitled in English to be exhibited in other American institutions.
Jan-Christopher Horak, director of the Film Archive of the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a statement that “the post-revolution Cuban cinema is well known but our partnership with the Cinematheque of Cuba will help revive the rich cinematic traditions of classic pre-revolutionary Cuban cinema, for them to be part of history again.”
The Film Archive of the University of California, Los Angeles is the second largest archive of moving images in the United States and is a referral center for film restoration.
To launch the project, the company will also work with the National Film Archives of Mexico and the Museum of Cinema in Buenos Aires (Argentina), which will provide them the tapes to be restored.
Once the materials are ready, the Film Archive of the University of California plans to set an exhibition in Los Angeles open for three months, from October to December 2017, and in 2018, in a reduced form, will be exhibited around the USA.
Luciano Castillo also told OnCuba that there is a project several years ago with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to repair two films by Tomas Gutierrez Alea.
