Back in his old office, Ivan Giroud feels he has returned home, surrounded by his paintings, a naked desk and an almost empty bookcase, the newly reinstated general director of the New Latin American Cinema International Festival is relaxed…
He is quiet because he knows everything related to the Festival: he has been linked to the great meeting of Latin American cinema since 1988, and he was his director since 1994 to 2010, when he focused on the coordination of the chapter of the Americas in of the bulky Iberoamerican Cinema Dictionary.
“The hardest part is making it look easy: building a Festival is a real work of a goldsmith, like knitting a dress with hidden seams, ” Giroud said, who is in charge of the epic feat of organizing, next December, the 35th edition of the Festival, which will pay tribute to the recently deceased Alfredo Guevara.
Giroud admitted he is back in the middle of special, complex and painful circumstances that, in turn, strengthen his commitment to this institution of Latin American cinema, “the festivals need to feed cinephilia, prepare a schedule that achieves a dialogue between films and the viewer, and that meets the expectations of an educated public”. He told he will work based on assumptions Alfredo left, but according to the production of a year, which is particularly intense for the Cuban cinema, that is immersed in a process of redefinition of its structures, which Giroud did not hesitate when describing it as “very interesting “, especially for its participatory nature.
He particularly highlighted the consensus on the necessary Cinema Act, which among other things protects the rights of creators. In fact, he is greatly outraged because pirated copies of Cuban movies are sold in the streets with impunity. “I am worried about this problem is not taken as something serious; is very hard seeing the use of valuable resources for then no one can recover the investment.”
He also regretted the physical deterioration and technological backwardness of Cuban cinemas , as well as the loss of a discipline in the projection halls, which is mainly noticeable when the Festival comes.
“In the meantime, we need to protect the identity of the Festival, which is the only guarantee of its survival to meet the needs of the public and the cinema itself, “noted Giroud and added that earning a public takes years, but you can lose it very easily if missing the identity lines of an event.
In turn, he believes although proliferation of film festivals in the region, the Havana ’s appointment is still one of the most important within the network of festivals, which are at present the m ain circuit of independent film distribution and projection.
The International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, f ounded in 1979, emerged with the aim of recognizing and disseminating filmmaking in the region with values that reaffirm the native culture identity.
But assembling an event of such magnitude requires not only resources, but also a lot of culture and a vast network of contacts and relationships that facilitate efforts as obtaining rights or copies.
However, in his former office, which he has not yet finished its conditioning, Ivan Giroud is relaxed. He feels like at home …The Festival’s Home…
