The Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC) has a new chairman: sources close to the institution, which is undergoing a restructuring process confirmed to OnCuba that the hitherto vice president Robert Smith replaced in office the poet and writer Omar Gonzalez .
For months there was speculation about the cessation of Gonzalez as ICAIC president for health reasons, and the designation of who was considered his right hand could be seen as a continuation of his administration, initiated after the resignation of the late Alfredo Guevara, one of its founders.
Journalist and Casa de las Americas award winning, Gonzalez was appointed Deputy Minister of Culture in 1989, and then headed the National Council of Plastic Arts, the Cuban Book Institute and ICAIC, since the beginning of this century.
Robert Smith of Castro served until now as vice president for information and head of the Cubacine portal. He has a degree in Psychology from the University of Havana, and has been a distributor and film promoter, sales manager, organizer of national and international festivals, and often participate in press conferences and activities organized by the Information Center of the institution.
His arrival at the top of ICAIC raises some questions for those expecting dramatic changes in the underway process of rethinking the institution, with the help of film people, economists, government officials and legislators.
For now, there is a commission established by the government to transform the body of law that may be hindering the development of film production. Among its members are two filmmakers, Jorge Luis Sanchez and Manuel Perez Paredes, past winner of the National Film Award.
The filmmakers work on their demands, including the creation of a film law, the legalization of independent production, updating the production forms, payment to filmmakers, distribution and screening mechanisms both in Cuba and abroad.
The scenario is dark to the cinema in Cuba, where the social phenomenon of cinema has suffered both physical impoverishment of the rooms, as the proliferation of banks movies, piracy and the habit of watching the films on a personal computer or DVD player at home.
Apparently Smith receives the classic hot potato, and either he reaches the glory, or falls in a bottomless hole.
