In addition to the pride of being birthplace of the renowned troubadour Silvio Rodríguez and of having majestic weeping willows bordering the Ariguanabo river, which flows across the town, the inhabitants of San Antonio de los Baños can justly boast of being Cuba’s most filmed town.
A plaque in José Martí Park registers this fact. The inscription mentions the determinant contributions by the town’s inhabitants and institutions to the work of the renowned International Film and Television School –EICTV, located in that territory. among whose founders and directors are intellectuals of the height of Gabriel García Márquez. It also emphasizes that the cultural history of this place is present in the works of the students of that institution founded on December 15, 1986.
A part of the young province of Artemisa, this territory was also the venue of a film movement in the decade of 1950 sponsored by the Asociación Pro-Cine Ariguanabense, although the passion for the cinema had long been present there already.
The sources consulted give faith that the first cinema installed in San Antonio operated since May 1908, when the City Hall authorized its proprietor, Manuel García, to install a boiler and dynamo with the purpose of giving performances in the lot of Guillermón Street, today 45th Avenue corner to MacKinley, 64th Street.
Before the EICTV was founded, a group of young persons from Ariguanabo dreamt of crating a film school in that municipality to make San Antonio de los Baños the Mecca of film.
The initiative came in 1952 from Eulatio Cruz, who liked to make films together with a group of no more than ten young persons, students at the time, who were convinced that the utopia could become reality.
The first film produced was a 20-minute short film entitled El Invasor Marciano (The Invader from Mars), inspired on the non-identified flying objects (NIFO), with roles by Osvaldo Ordaz, Angel Gutiérrez, Agustín de la Osa, Vicente Cruz, Antonio Alfonso, Roberto Puyada, Artemio Valdés, Ricardo de Armas and José de Armas.
The group remained active during the whole decade of 1950, filming several silent, fictional short films like La Herencia Maldita, Lobos de mar, Contrabanda, and El Cayo de la Muerte, the latter a 36-min. color film directed by Vicente Cruz and produced by Jesús Mejías.
A research carried out by students from the Film School showed that on September 8, 1930, the film La Virgen de la Caridad was premiered in Rialto Theater, in Havana, directed by Ramón Peón and produced by BPP Picture. This is the only Cuban silent film with quality that has been preserved in its entirety at the Cinemateca de Cuba; a large part of its scenes were shot in San Antonio de los Baños.
The film El Romance del Palmar, premiered in 1938, is considered a box office success in Cuba and abroad. Views from the territory of Ariguanabo were included in the film – among them the harvesting of tobacco, famous in the zone – with the acting of the unforgettable Rita Montaner and the prestigious actress María de los Ángeles Santana.
Up to the present, from the more than 80 films made by the students of the Film School, 31 received prizes. Among the most awarded ones are: El encanto de la luna llena, Amores, Talco para lo negro, Soy un niño todavía, Comida caliente, Sabor a mi, and Un cielo lánguido y oxidado.
Some of the most promoted and best-known films in San Antonio are: Los regalos de Don José, El invasor marciano 36 años después, Las mil y una noches de Tomás, and Amores, Among the ones with the longest shots made in that territory are Los regalos de Don José and Silencio, hay sol bueno.
The Museo del Humor is also in San Antonio de los Baños. In addition to its cinematographic success, that territory was also birthplace of distinguished humorists and caricaturists, among them Eduardo Abela and René de la Nuez., and is also the venue of an important graphic tradition: the International Biennial of Humor.
Author
Teresa Valenzuela
