Independent film production is a phenomenon that in Cuba has opened roads with undeniable force. The demand for recognition by younger filmmakers is also a reality that cannot and should not be overlooked, as the producer Ivonne Cotorruelo explains.
She chooses her films. Always. No one can take that away from her. That gives her the ability ” to work creatively with the director, making the Cuban cinema I want it to look at, which is not that of the prostitutes , pimps, obvious jokes , etc. . I avoid the easy way; I choose risky movies. “
Ivonne Cotorruelo, 30 , knows that making films is a miracle and every project that involves a lot of her time and life energy , are years of work. She was the producer of The World of Raúl (Jessica Rodriguez and Horizoe Garcia, 2010) Dark Glasses (JR, 2014) Giraffes (Enrique Alvarez, 2013) Digna Guerra (Marcel Beltran 2013) and Venice (Enrique Alvarez, in post-production) among others.
Besides, she has two films in underway, documentaries that are being born: Casa Lezama , by Marcel Beltran , and the Belly of the whale, Zoe Miranda. All independent productions.
Photo 2: Dark Glasses, directed by Jessica Rodriguez and produced by Ivonne Cotorruelo
“That is the natural name for this phenomenon. Film production should be an independent activity with state help. Why? Because industry is too expensive, and the whole world has realized that you have to invest in culture, media education of a people. Hence, in countries such as Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, though independent, is state funded, because ultimately it is the culture of a country. We must talk about Cuban films, because national cinema is just one, “she explains.
Questioning, Cotorruelo has participated in some open meetings of the G20, as they call the commission of permanent work, composed of directors and other representatives of Cuban culture that is dedicated for the some time to analyze the current situation of Cuban cinema trying to come up with concrete proposals. A film law might be one of them, a possibility that even Roberto Smith has previously raised .
“During one of these sessions, I had an interesting counterpoint to that effect. I was accused of being very hard, because they [the older generation] were fighting for utopia. But for me it is not about that; utopia is in the art, not in a film company. “On a clear clash of socio- artistic status, Cotorruelo said “I told them that if they were paid two thousand pesos each month, might well think of utopia. But when you don’t get even a fixed salary each month, you have to think about how the work allows people to live. That is basic to social level. “
For young structures of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC) they are very vertical. “As I shared with filmmakers of my generation, often the ICAIC producer does not have a direct dialogue with the project. It’s as if he was assigned the task of making movies. In my view, there is no artistic compromise, but fulfilling that ‘ plan ‘ has been leaving behind the youngsters (filmmakers between 20 and 40 years). Very few of them have had the pleasure of making their projects there, and then this independent production is encouraged, because if I do not do my projects with the Institute of Cinema in my country, because I’ll find another way to do it.
“I start from the idea that it might be radical and annoy many people, that should be a ICAIC film institute, and have a production company to arrange, processes and projects statewide. But it must be an institute that gives equal chances to all filmmakers. Think of directors, how does a girl like Jessica Rodriguez get to be considered Director at ICAIC? I love and respect those other directors, but, when this payroll is updated? We have to see how that happens, “she says.
Ivonne Cotorruelo receives scripts all year round. At this point, as everyone in the business, has become a fortune hunting to finance her films, in which she can invest, fortunately, two years as much. With Dark Glasses, for example, she has worked five years, and yet the film is in post-production.
Even with those skills, it can be a real pain to apply with their projects to different funds. She explains how the Cuban films reach these lists without any support from the state, because in Cuba they haven’t created any fund to boost or support audiovisual production, and how that influences the risk perception of the sponsors, since these projects are at zero and may, for that reason, be truncated along the way. ” When analyzing a project financially , maybe a movie from another country is less liked than a Cuban , but the first already has the support of its country , which means less financial risk,” she explains.
“In most of the world there is something called automatic stimuli. If a producer – she said – you have one or two movies and you select an important event, it is often the film institute in the country or the state that pays you the bill helps you because in the end you are allowing your culture and your film to reach another place, have another audience. “
Ibermedia Program is one of the most recognized funds, but in this case only ICAIC projects can concur, “ with its filmmakers and production formulas. And I wonder why. That’s not right. Other projects have every right to be there as well as those produced by the ICAIC. These films can also earn the fund, and they are missing it.
“Fully I communed with the position and ideas of the G20, I think they are on the right track. But I do not know where we can get with that. To file a bill the G20 group needs a very good lawyer, a good one. This is a year- long dialogue, you have to sit and watch. I think that with will you can achieve almost anything. See how it works in other areas. There is a Cuban Institute of Music, and is the same for all musicians, but is not who is producing the discs. That’s the difference, because the ICAIC is everything: school, national producer and distributor. José Martí said that the best way to tell is to do. And you have to defend the national cinema, because I ‘m not doing films in Thailand, but perhaps I could, I am doing it here. “
