Esteban is Jonal Cosculluela´s debut film. It is an intimate drama about a ten year old boy who casually discovers his musical talent and falls for the piano. It is a story of possible impossible that addresses the protagonist’s perseverance and determination to achieve his dreams. Esteban 's story is a simple one that could well be the story of the childhood of one of our great musicians. The ninety minutes long film, co-produced by the Cuban Institute of Music and RTV Commercial and under the auspices of Hermanos Saiz Association (AHS by its Spanish acronym), will be seen very soon, as its team is already finishing the sound postproduction phase . OnCuba talked to Cosculluela, its director, to approach this encouraging film. How did the idea for this film emerge? I was given the script from Amilcar Salati, a television writer to make a TV short. At first everything would be for television. The idea of taking it to the cinema was by Vilma Montesinos, who belongs to the Cuban Film Institute (ICRT by its Spanish acronym). She found by accident the script misplaced with others of a series that we were going to do and she liked to...

El rey de la Habana, a novel by Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, will be taken to the big screen very son in a film by renowened Spanish director Agustí Villaronga. Works by Wendy Guerra and Leonardo Padura have already inspired foreign filmmakers that released films based on their texts this year. Now it is the turn of Pedro Juan, one of our most read and published worldwide, author. Villalonga, winner of several Goya awards, will start shooting this film, for six weeks, in the Dominican Republic next February Nor the filmmaker or the producers have explained what they would not shoot this movie in Havana, either political or economic. Pedro Juan does not know anything about it, though he regrets it is not possible to shoot the movie in the city that inspire the script. Life in the municipality of Centro Habana is the starting point and greatest challenge to take it to another scenario. Still without a defined cast, the movie will deal with the problems of Reinaldo, a teenager who just escaped a juvenile center to ram Havana’s streets during the Special Period. The script is an excellent adaptation by Villalonga.The production and pre-filming are moving forward. They already...

Vestido de novia, Marilyn Solaya´s debut film, has just won the Coral Audience Award at the recently concluded International Festival of New Latin American Cinema. The film joins the multi-prize-winning documentary En el cuerpo equivocado, also made by Solaya, who considered both works as parts of the same film material. Supported by the formidable performances by Laura de la Uz, Luis Alberto García, Alina Rodriguez, Jorge Perugorría, Mario Guerra and Isabel Santos, the film tells the story of Rosa Elena and Ernesto, who live in Havana in 1994. She is a nursing assistant; and he is head of a construction work very important to the country's tourism development. Both fall in love, get married and try to be happy until a secret in her life threats that harmony and becomes them victims of violence, prejudice and stereotypes of a society that is still governed by sexist and patriarchal attitudes. Marilyn Solaya talked to OnCuba about this film that will be seen soon on Cuban cinemas. Why did you title the film as Norge Espinosa’s poem? By the same reason the phrase represents, dressing as women because it is synonymous with femininity. Fresa y chocolate was premiered in that same year...

The Cuban film ¨Conducta¨ was the big winner of the 36th International Festival of New Latin American Cinema by receiving the Coral Award for Best Feature Film at the closing ceremony of the event. Received by its director, Ernesto Daranas, the recognition was the colophon for Conducta, which recently won five Side Awards and now also earned the prize for Best Male Performance granted to its young protagonist, besides the SIGNIS Prize and a mention in the side awards, for a total of nine laurels. "Bythe moving, intimate and lucid force of Cuban current society", that was the argument given by the Jury of Fiction before announcing that Daranas's film would be declared the best of this edition in the event that annually takes place in Havana. The popularity award was for Marilyn Solaya´s debut film: Vestido de Novia. Another emotional moment of the gala, hosted by Cuban actress Laura de la Uz and her colleague Caleb Casas, was the opening words by Ivan Giroud , Festival director, who said that a fierce competition was expected this year and pointed to Cuban cinema as "engine driver of this edition ." Another special moment in the ceremony was the award for...

Paco León is more awake than and just as charismatic as the Luisma, character he played in over 200 chapters for ten years in the popular Spanish series Aida. Carmina and amen, his second film, released in Spain on April 30 this year arrives in Havana. He dyed his hair black and keeps his curls crowning his ever smiling face and expressive turquoise eyes. Everyone wants to be photographed with him and he agrees to please their fans, even if he is about to leave the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, headquarters of the film event, to know the city from which, as he admits, live in love for some years . For those who met the Luisma, a former junkie who "used so many things he became dumb" it is almost impossible to see Paco de León as someone serious. He claims to have always preferred being silly than too smart, it's a good strategy and has worked. He is still surprised that everyone, or almost everyone in Cuba, knows him and demonstrates him their affection and admiration. "I knew that here people watched Aida but I never imagined it was so popular '' he laughed. He says that he...

Former basketball player, ex painter, visceral artist, the renowned Puerto Rican actor Benicio del Toro left the skin when performing Che and recently repeated the effort to incarnate the drug lord Pablo Escobar. With his great interpretative strength and overwhelming presence, del Toro has become the great Latin American Hollywood actor. Raised in the US, though he was born in Puerto Rico, he is an actor with one of those faces that ends up playing villains in any film. However, his acting ability and his keen eye for choosing roles have been able him to have a career full of great performances. He has shown that he is good at biopic. The last one he has done is ¨Escobar, Paraiso Perdido, ¨ by Andrea di Stefano, a kind of portrait of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. The actor says he does not want to specialize in playing great Latin American characters, but this story interested him by his family and close-to-the-capo approach. Owner of a striking, enigmatic and deep look, his 47 years old gray hair could be seen under a sports cap. Beard, sideburns and a thick silver bracelet accompany him for a while. His conversation with OnCuba took...

Renowned and winner of several awards Spanish filmmaker Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón is in Havana as unpublished script jury at the 36th International Festival of New Latin American Cinema. He has lost count of how many times he has traveled to Cuba since he first came in 1977. He has always been closely linked to our cinema. He directed the film Cosas que dejé en La Habana (1997) and A Rose from France (2005). He produced the series on Cuban music Música para vivir with several Cuban filmmakers like Pavel Girud and Arturo Sotto, among other documentaries on our Island. He says he arrived in the cinema "by accident": "I went to Madrid to study journalism, but there were no available space and enrolled in film school. I found out later that making movies is a toxic, addictive and I could make money faster than a journalist. Although, what I wanted was to write. I started doing scripts, without considering them a literary piece.¨ he told OnCuba. He is a member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando and National Film Award in Spain. In your opinion, what should a good script have to take home a Coral?...

The Colombian filmmaker Sergio Cabrera returned to the New Latin American Film Festival in Havana again as part of the jury of fiction in which he participated in 2008. Writer, photographer, editor, philosopher and director, he is best known by his films ¨La estrategia del caracol¨ (1994), ¨Golpe de estadio¨ (1998), ¨Perder es cuestión de método¨ (2004). He also comes to the cinema event with his latest film ¨Todos se van¨ (2014), based on the novel by Cuban writer Wendy Guerra, to be presented out of competition. After four years and eleven different scripts, his film about Nieves, a Cuban eight years old girl who becomes involved in the fight of her parents to obtain her custody, is already ready. About this work and his concerns as a filmmaker and the current environment of Latin American cinema, Cabrera talked with OnCuba.  How do you get to Wendy Guerra’s novel? I read the book almost by accident because it was given to me on a birthday and loved it, I recommended it to several people including Laura Martel (co-scriptwriter of the film) and two years while being at a festival, talking about cinema and literature with my friend the actor Jorge...

Now comes the hour of the Corals. Within a few days the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema will grant its awards, which since its founding in 1979 were extracted from the great coral reefs that inhabit the Caribbean Sea These awards were real corals till only three years that they began to be made by hand, while maintaining their essence they turned into unique, valuable and manufactured pieces. Because of the importance of preserving our species and environmental care, some time ago a regulation of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment of Cuba (CITMA) was passed that prevents, for black coral protection, harvesting it from the sea bottom and marketing it. Because of this the festival organizers decided, after so many years, to change its design. The founder of the contest, Alfredo Guevara, on the 34th Festival, called on goldsmiths and sculptors to present him a prototype of what could be the new Coral Prize. Although away from his essence who so distinguished from other film festivals in the world, this new "coral" should be made of some material emulating in beauty and value with the striking polyp. The black coral is unique in the seabed, and...

"Fatima does not surrender, Fatima is immortal." Thus ends the story of Miguel Barnet Fatima or The Fraternity Park awarded the Juan Rulfo in 2006 and made into a film by actor and filmmaker Jorge Perugorría. This phrase inspired Perugorría (Affinities, 2010; Chronic Love, 2012; Se vende, 2012) to make his fourth film, co-produced by the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC) and NMP. "I loved Fatima because somehow life since childhood puts her many obstacles, but her fighting spirit and perseverance don’t let her abandon her dreams. This fascinated me. People who do not surrender is admirable and I love perseverance, getting up stronger after falling, overcome obstacles, is memorable. Because in a world like the one we live in today we all have so many problems, so many contradictions, conflicts and doubts, convey that sense and build a character with such strength, vitality and imposition of the problems, I think it is important, "said the filmmaker. This recently completed film version will premiere at the upcoming edition of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema that begins Thursday. Once again the work of Barnet, current president of the National Union of Writers and Artists of...

Since its inception in 1979 the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema has encouraged and promoted the best of the seventh art in the region. There have been so far 36 the times that Havana has been taken by this event, some of its main arteries will reflect the crowds at the wait between film and film, while most of the cultural and educational institutions, screening rooms, galleries and squares of the city will host multiple projections, among other activities. This edition, from December 4 to 14, will connect filmmakers and film lovers of all ages, tastes and artistic interests as every year. A total of 116 works of dissimilar formats, looks, genres and audiovisual pretensions will be screened on the 23 cinemas, video rooms of Havana and other collateral alternative spaces. In the Official Section we find one hundred works represented mainly by Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Cuba. 21 feature films will fight for the Coral Award, and there also an equal amount of medium, short and debut films, 30 documentaries, 23 animations and 25 unpublished scripts and 11 posters. The Samples from Other Latitudes are highly acclaimed and expected by our viewers. This occasion will be conducive...

For the ninth time Belgian culture arrives in Havana until next November 17. Film, visual arts, literature and other art forms will take Cubans closer to the culture of that European nation. With the inauguration of a selection of works by cartoonists and graphic artists from Wallonia and Brussels in honor of the 200th anniversary of Adolphe Sax, the creator of the saxophone, the IX Belgian Week began in Havana, which in its current edition will have the visual arts as a major theme. Titled Sax Inspirations: melodies graphiques an original exhibition at the Alliance Française de la Habana will be presented. Prominent among the exhibition are the urban photos Habaneros, by Belgian Jim Sumkay that starting Monday will be appreciated in the fence at the Fountain in the Old Square. It also scheduled a mapping show on the front of the Vitrina de Valonia as part of the presentation of the second book Dreaming Havana. There will also be lectures and an animation workshop for teens at the Vitrina de Valonia. The ninth edition of the Belgian Week will encourage cooperation and exchange between Belgian and Cuban scientists who make up the most diverse research projects in order to...

The National Council of the Plastic Arts awarded its 2014 National Award to artist Lázaro Saavedra "in recognition of his creative career and values of a work characterized by conceptualism and management of humor and irony." Member of PURE, one of the groups that carried out the artistic movement of the eighties in Cuba, Saavedra (Havana, 1964) has developed a versatile work regarding the employment of means of expression. His creations have been recognized both inside and outside of Cuba and he has developed an outstanding educational work in the training of several generations of Cuban artists. Saavedra has been a critical artist who has believed from the beginning in the marked social function of art. He has made some controversial performances like Muriendo Libre, last December, in which sarcasm and double entendre play predominant roles. Innovative, daring, iconoclastic and transgressive, he recently presented in Havana Gallery a retrospective of his work. The jury in this case was presided over by Eduardo Ponjuán National Arts Award 2013, and composed also by National Awards for Visual Arts Osneldo Garcia, Pedro Pablo Oliva, René de la Nuez, Jose Villa, Nelson Dominguez, Ernesto Fernández Nogueras and Ever Fonseca; artists Iván Capote, Abel Barreto...

The Cuban-Italian chocolates producer Stella SA celebrates this year its twentieth anniversary of presence in the Cuban market. Stella is a marketer of jams, pastas and pre-mixes. It offers pastry and bakery services and equipments, in addition to their parts and supplies for both the domestic market and for export. It owns the brands Gustazo, Lebon, Ciokito, Dolci Messaggi under which it sells different assortments of jam made from cocoa , such as tablets, chocolates, covers and chocolate powder. It has representations of Chocolates Houses in Santiago de Cuba, Camaguey and Santa Clara, where the diversity of its products is exposed. Coinciding with this anniversary, they presented a new product: The chocolates fell from the sky at the recently concluded FIHAV 2014 . The cover design of the packaging of these new chocolates was conducted by the artist Zaida del Río who spoke with OnCuba about this new release. "Chocolate has always fascinated me. We know they are a delicacy, a symbol of glamour, sophistication and sensuality so I felt that these products would look good with my work. These cases are inspired in my recent series ¨Estaciones¨ (Seasons), made up by the known seasons: summer, autumn, spring and winter....

In recent years, the growth in the prevalence of diabetes to more than 371 million people worldwide has encouraged governments, international and national health organizations to identify diabetes as the colossal threat that it actually constitutes prioritizing the development of strategies to prevent, control and reduce the danger that this disease and its complications mean. The Organizing Committee of the 3rd Annual International Conference on Comprehensive care of patients with diabetic foot ulcers has expanded the scope of its thematic Congress and now their next biannual editions were called: Controlling diabetes and its more severe complications. This year between December 10 and 12 they will be discuss various issues related to this disease through four symposia at the Marina Hotel Melia Varadero Convention Center in Matanzas province. This summit is sponsored by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), the Latin American Diabetes Association, Diabetes Association of Cuba, the Cuban Society of Endocrinology, the Cuban Society of Angiology and Vascular Surgery, Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) and the trading Heber Biotec Sa. They expect the participation of about 800 delegates and 45 international leaders in the management of diabetes and its complications have confirmed their attendance to the Congress, to...

The Distributor of Cuban Medical Services Company (SMC by its Spanish acronym) gave an updated account of its operations during the past year during FIHAV 2014 event where it is participating for the fourth consecutive year. The seven lines of business that give prestige to the company responsible for the promotion of health services in Cuba in the world were exposed by Dr. Exposito Lliliam Jimenez, president of the organization. The doctor explained that the business portfolio is based on sustained success for decades of the Cuban health system as a result of principles and values of humanity, solidarity and a fundamental concern for having the highest ethical and scientific standards for workers, who constitute the fundamental bulwark of Cuban medicine. While SMC now has seven lines of business for development from the foreign investment, healthcare services are one of the priorities, for which it has 47 institutions of the national health system and eight international clinics, among others. "Today our services are requested by about 35 agencies from 101 countries, among which stand out Canada, Russia, China, Japan, Angola and Costa Rica. This year we have received more than 100,000 requests of treatment in Cuba, and we can see...

Despite his youth, Yaniel Rodriguez Benitez has earned a place in contemporary Cuban goldsmith. His twisted metals have endowed him with a unique style. In the composition of his pieces, a strong interest in formality by highlighting volumetric, textures and geometry of his jewelry is evident. His aesthetic research always seeks an interaction with minimalist sculptural forms, originating works of sophisticated design and unsurpassed workmanship. His workshop is full of pliers , blowtorches and sandpapers. He tries to take the metal to its artistic expression beyond jewelry. "My first piece was a sculpture that won the first mention at the International Crafts Fair (FIART by its Spanish acronym). I learned more about sculpture than jewelry. Jewelry submits you to a specific support because of its functional part, so it limits the creation, though I am constantly innovating both in design and structure of the jewel itself. You will dominate the metal by mixing techniques with time. Now I'm working with enamels on metal. I love using stones but they never take the preponderant role of the piece, there are always subordinated to the design. For me, there is a commercial jewelry which is based on the stone instead of design,...

When we speak of experimental and innovative jewelry in Cuba Osvaldo Castilla is an essential name. In his pieces design is more important than the material; the precious element is subordinated to the concept and aesthetics. Since his first exhibition in 1979, he revolutionized the way to conceive and make jewelry at home. Many of the samples are converted into real plastic actions where he makes a fusion of pieces´ design and performance. Models and dancers flaunt his creations together his kinetic sculptures that provide a more complex view of how this creator conceives goldsmith: the essence of his art is the movement. Osvaldo Castilla / Foto: Alain Lázaro Gutiérrez. Osvaldo is esoteric and astrologer. His pieces are the same. From the simplest ring to the more elaborate pendant they have the aura, the much imbued mysticism of their creator with the ancient philosophies and ancient cultures. That entire heritage is present in his works. The pieces of this master have souls. They are original jewelry bearing the good vibrations of the creator as energy amulets that will never go out of style. Irreverence, risk, and abstraction are basic ingredients of these works transiting manual craftsmanship to the most sophisticated...

One of the saddest events in the history of Cuban society, Operation Peter Pan, inspires again the filmmaker Marina Ochoa. In one hundred minutes, the documentary ¨Never Ever Nerverland¨ brings out various facets of that operation. Its premiere will be on Tuesday 21 at 8.00 pm at the 23 and 12 Cinema, in Havana, as part of the National Culture Day, while its release in the main movies of the country will begin two days later. The bitter exodus to the United States of more than 14,000 Cuban children who traveled alone between 1960 and 1962, has been addressed in the audiovisual on dissimilar occasions by filmmakers such as Estela Bravo (Operation Peter Pan: closing the circle in Cuba) and Marina herself, who in 1995 co-directed with Guillermo Centeno and Manuel Pérez the feature ¨The Other Side of the Glass¨, which delves into the consequences of this event. Never Ever Nerverland is based on the testimonies of several interviewees involved in the facts that address their complex circumstances. The documentary exposes the island of Jamaica as another destination to which the children arrived, besides the United States. Marina Ochoa is a journalist and sociologist who has been immersed many years...

Since the early days of humanity, anonymous goldsmiths performed silver objects for liturgical purposes and secular utilitarian functions. A rebirth of in the various craft demonstrations, including metal work and particularly goldsmith, began as continuity of this tradition in the twentieth century. For many years, this job was only for men. In Cuba, since the 1960s, there are several women goldsmiths. As continuity to this feminine incursion, Rosana Vargas started very young to make her pieces, impregnated with a unique label, characterized by a constant search and a refined technique. The metal is the base on which her work is based; assembled, textured, patinated or set in alternative materials, make each of her pieces a world of fantasy and reality. Rosana uses bold and attractive shapes in her designs, and imposes a style that identifies her in pendants, rings, bracelets, earrings. Semiprecious gems, various metals, pearls of different volumes that approach them to sculptural forms characterize her proposal. Some of her series are named after songs, as Rosana is very musical, music inspires her and melodies are melted together with metal. So ROX Orfebreria (Goldsmith), her jewelry company that drinks from minimalism, sculpture and engineering, arises. With refined lines and...

Under the title ¨Brujas, pero también Brujos ¨ (Witches, but also Wizards), the space ¨Aglutinador¨ and the Maniac Art Museum exhibit by these days a sui generis sample that fuses art with religious rites and beliefs of various points of the planet. On the occasion of its twentieth anniversary, this space for creation and exhibition, run by the artist Sandra Ceballos, brought together almost fifty people in this exhibition where spirits, amulets, Orishas, paranormal events and energy are the protagonists. Artists, esotericists, astrologers, researchers, healers, ritualists, believers, practitioners, mystics, both Cuban and foreign, invoke magic, sensuality and spirituality through various techniques, styles, textures, genres and expressive possibilities both conventional and experimental. The exhibition, which consists of 38 works, can be seen until the end of this month in Alfredo Ramos´ colonial mansion, at 106 of Linea Street, permanent headquarters of the Maniac Art Museum in Havana. Sandra Ceballos told OnCuba that the exhibition does not attempt to show religious or folk art. The artistic intention is to dig into the enigmatic presence of "Eggun or dead as a matrix of all clandestine psychophysical phenomena, legitimate and fairly rate those smart energies, which do not presume of egocentric and are possibly...

For the second year arrives in Havana the Ellas Crean Festival, from October 11 to 18, a week during which the female creation reigns again in different areas of the Cuban capital. This second edition is aimed at achieving greater leverage and significance among participants, so there are many workshops, courses and theoretical meetings, covering topics such as food, catering, architecture, urbanism, gender and society among other areas of creation. To share their experiences in these areas personalities of Spanish culture arrive in Havana, as the renowned Chef Arguiñano Eva, one of the cooks in the the most famous hospitality family saga in Spanish television; architect Inés Sánchez, who led the first group of Spanish research on gender, urbanism and architecture; Anatxu Zabalbeascoa, journalist and art historian; restorative Johina García-Concheso, who for more than five years has shared her knowledge with members of the Office of the Historian of Havana; visual artist Beatriz Ruibal, and other artists and intellectuals. On the Cuban side particpate, among others, artists such as Master Zenaida Castro Romeu; poets Reina María Rodríguez and Nancy Morejon; renowned architect Isabel Rigol and actresses Laura de la Uz and Broselianda Hernandez. Younger generations in the visual arts will...

This Friday took place in the Miramar Café the closing and awards ceremonies of the Second Expo- Sale Young Cuban Art Post-it. Organized by the National Center of Art Collage Habana belonging to the Cuban Cultural Fund, this event aimed at displaying and promoting the artistic production of the country's young artists. Post-it aims since its first edition at functioning as a multiple and heterogeneous platform, an action space for emerging artists. The winners on this occasion were Jorge Dager, Grand Prize for his work Alter ego; Arianna Contino, First Prize by Scarabeo-9; Second Prize for Adislén Reyes by Blue Blood and Adrian Fernandez by Requiem. It was also given an award for the purchase of materials to the Triangle group for their work Entropy and for conducting a personal showing to Johsue Pagliery for his video art Super Vaseline. The award consists of the acquisition of the work in an amount that doesn’t exceed three thousand CUC, the ability to purchase materials for creation worth 1500 CUC and performing a solo show in one of the galleries of the National Center of Art with the promotional support that this requires. The jury chaired by Moises Finalé and including Maria...

In his usual Santiago headquarters, the International Documentary Festival Santiago Álvarez in Memoriam will mark next year its fourteenth anniversary. Documentary filmmakers from around the world will have from March 6 to 11 a space for discussion, reflection and sharing in this centuries-old city. The event, which pays tribute to the chronicler of the third world and one of the most important masters of the genre, is dedicated this year to Mexico and personalities of the art and sport from Santiago de Cuba. More than a hundred documentaries from thirty nations will be exhibited at the Cuba and Rialto theaters, and all the cinemas in the city. Mexico, Venezuela, Panama, Italy, France and Colombia are among the countries that are represented in disparate formats and styles. Sponsored by the ICAIC and Provincial Film Center in the region, the event includes a conference program, a theoretical seminar and contest that invite many participants each year. Herrera Lázara chairs the International Documentary Festival Santiago Álvarez in Memoriam from its third edition / Photo courtesy of the Santiago Alvarez Office. The Festival promotes the dissemination of works dedicated to the themes of contemporary society, and the reflection on the role of documentaries in...

The Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC) chose the film Conducta, directed by Ernesto Daranas, as its candidate for a nomination for the Oscar award in the US and the Goya in Spain. The film was selected by a committee in which the filmmaker Fernando Perez and director of the Exhibition of Young Cinema, Marisol Rodriguez participated. Conducta expresses with “high film quality an authentically Cuban drama, at once universal," the commission said and added it had conducted a "thorough analysis" of the films nominated among those released this year. Conducta premiered in February with great public success. In its award-winning career in international festivals it has been described as a "tough, critical, sentimental, thrilling and controversial" movie. Its director, who is immersed the first stage of in his next installment ¨Pink Smoke¨, told OnCuba of his satisfaction with the honor this ruling in favor of his second feature film represents. "Conduct is a simple story that speaks of a boy with a lot of problems, and the importance for him his veteran sixth grade teacher has. It draws on our reality, in the aftermath of a quarter century of the special period and the impact of a...