After three years without performing in Cuban scenarios, Haydee Milanes returns with Palabras (Words), her fifth CD. While this album does not depart from the intimate style to which we are accustomed, we note that the singer has finally found her way. This woman just needs a good song to captivate her audience. Now you'll find out when you listen to her Words This work, the most ambitious of all that she has done so far, is a tribute to the octogenarian Marta Valdés, one of the essential songwriters of the twentieth century in Cuba. ¨Words¨ covers various stages of her career from her beginnings in the early 1950s, when she composed her first songs in the style of feeling; to her latest creations. Throughout musical history of the island, great ones like Ignacio Villa 'Bola de Nieve', Elena Burke, Vicentico Valdés, Omara Portuondo and Pablo Milanes have interpreted her songs. Marta surprises on this disc playing the guitar in guitar No te empeñes más and singing along Haydée Sin ir más lejos. Other songs that stand out for their exquisite arrangements are Canción fácil, Aida, Tengo and En la imaginación. "She's a musical reference for me. In 2010 I...

The Animation Studios of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), the largest state production company dedicated to the genre on the island, is now finishing the animated full-length film Samuel y el agua, by the Venezuelan Alvaro Caceres. The film has as base the didactic series Samuel y las cosas, but the director's intention is to make a material for the enjoyment of the entire family. The protagonist, Sam, is an 8 year old boy that along his friends discovers that someone has stolen his town´s water. All the adventure revolves around finding the thief. "The experience of Albatros Productions, a Venezuelan company with ten years of experience in digital animation, joined three years ago with the talent of the studies for this film which is now in post-production," the screenwriter and director told OnCuba. Although the director thinks the premiere will be in Venezuela in December this year, he acknowledged that "our work schedule is tight, we have many tasks ahead." He also said that "a Spanish company that has a good technological muscle" recently joined the co-production, so he expects to meet deadlines. The interviewee confirmed he will not run it in the next Film...

In the central district of El Vedado filmmaker Carlos Barba shot his first fiction short. 25 hours is his first approach to the genre, and according to what he told OnCuba, it is "an experimental short". Broadly speaking, the story is about a woman, Isabel Santos, who returns to the country to care for her father Enrique Pineda Barnet-after several years of absence. "I want to show the reverse process: the person who is coming and misses the foreign country that gave them shelter. A woman, who feels divided, feels love for the two soils; that's something that can happen, so I set out to show the phenomenon realistically. I would like to talk to this new reality that emerges with new Cuban immigration laws, which have allowed many Cubans that were living abroad to return to their country, "said the director of Humberto (2014). In addition, Barba said he is not interested in reflecting the misery other materials on Cuba show. "This is the same in work filmed by foreigners in the island than in Cuban materials. I asked the director, Carlos Rafael Solis (Esther somewhere, Gerardo Chijona, Wedding Dress, Marilyn Solaya), an intermediate image, because I didn’t want...

AFTER YEARS OF WORK AND MANY EXPECTATIONS, the first 3-D animated film is premiering in Havana. The audiovisual project Meñique, by Ernesto Padrón, will be screened nationwide on July 20, its director told OnCuba. This animated film marks the start of the production of feature-length 3-D films on the island. Meñique is an unusual project, involving not only professionals from the national Animation Studios but also specialists from the national computer science university, UCI; Spain’s Ministry of Culture and Sports; the Galician Agency for Cultural Industries; and the Ibermedia Program. The modelling, animation and lighting processes were the most complex, according to these experts. “Wisdom is greater than force” is the moral of this animated film, alluding to the principal trait of its main character: his astuteness. The film, which targets children and adolescents, is a free version of a short story with the same title adapted by José Martí in 1889 for the children’s magazine La Edad de Oro (The Golden Age) from the short story Poucinet, written by Edouard Laboulaye (Contesbleus, París, 1864). In a nutshell, the story is about a young peasant, Meñique, who is struggling to release his family from poverty. His encounter with the Magic...

Can you imagine a fluorescent Havana? A city full of holographs and transparencies? That is the vision of the Mexican artist Mariana Cabello, who is presently visiting the Island in order to gather material for her next exhibition. "The project is funded by the KU Fund, of the the Swedish government, which supports artistic research. They understand this classification as the act of researching a topic from artistic exercise. In this case, the focus of my work is Cuban literature of science fiction, "Cabello told OnCuba exclusively. "I was interested from the start in Cuban science fiction because I find it a land full of contrasts. The plastic Havana has certain colors, certain shades, while the imagination of science fiction that is written here is completely different: there is a strong contrast between the written and the reality. Making the intersection of these two worlds seems exciting. How science fiction causes other materiality? The original idea comes from that intersection. " The Mexican bases her work on the works of Cuban writers Michel Encinosa (Gods of neon, neon Children) and Erick Mota (Havana Underwater), both known in the literary world of the island, while the young Enzo Hernandez currently writes...

While Cuba movie development has been linked almost exclusively to the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC)- state filming company created on March 24, 1959 -, in recent years the audiovisual landscape of the island has changed. Greater accessibility to technology, we moved from 35mm rolls into the digital age, much cheaper-, the emergence of new voices made ​​visible at events like the ICAIC Muestra Joven, and the emergence of other forms of production-independent cooperatives, access to international aid funds, and so on-, have resulted in a wealth of materials that some experts have called the Cuban Alternative Cinema. In this segment of the national audiovisual focuses Submerged: Cuban Alternative Film Festival, an event that will travel during the months of September and October 4 centers of higher learning in the United States: : Florida Atlantic University, Rice University, Tulane University and Princeton University. Thise institutions sponsor the tour. "We want to encourage reflection about a kind of movie that is produced and circulated in alternative settings. A cinema that proposes new languages ​​and seems detached from what is known as the great tradition of cinema. This is to show to an international audience (perhaps used to a...

Of all the groups that make audiovisual products independently in Cuba, one of the most recognized is the 5th Avenue Productions. Goya Award for Best Latin American Film, awarded this year to the film Juan de los Muertos (Alejandro Brugués, 2011), put this young team in the spotlight. Furthermore, Molasses (Carlos Lechuga, 2012), one of the latest films from its catalog, was recognized with the Award for Best Latin American Film in the Festival in Malaga, Spain. Speaking exclusively to OnCuba, producer Claudia Calvino announced that "have confirmed our presence in more than 25 festivals, and still have a long way to go." About the materials they are producing today, she reported that 5th Avenue Productions finished filming New Island Hotel, feature documentary directed by Irene Gutierrez and Javier Labrador. "We developed this project for three years. We are now beginning the editing and postproduction. " According to her, the film has a strong social court, is set in the old Hotel New Island, a facility that housed several families, and it was finally evicted by danger of collapse. The material is starred by Jorge; the only inhabitant was left there. "We hope we have enough time for presentation at...