In a post published in Cine Cubano, la pupila insomne website, the Cuban film critic and researcher Juan Antonio García Borrero warned about the technological problem in our country: “Cuba is already part of this fiercely competitive world, as it is demonstrated by all that set of economic measures that are being implemented, and if we do not think from now on that technological literacy which I speak, social exclusion rates will be downright traumatic.” With lights that always accompany the reflections and calls from Juan Antonio, a debate was opened –which included intellectuals like Victor Fowler, where core issues were discussed at the time to think of a Cuba really immersed in an electronic revolution, where technological culture transcends holding a cell phone or a PC, because "it is not just teaching people to use a computer, but encourage them to maintain a creative and liberating spirit with these technologies." But this creative and liberating spirit that Juan Antonio mentions, can only be achieved when people to begin having a legitimate thought and action autonomy, to the extent that the slogan 'democratization of technology' to have in practice a significant share of validity, and when we without prejudice assume...

So the Cuban musician Bobby Carcasses said (founder of the Jazz Plaza Festival) during the official opening of the XIX edition of the great feast of jazz in Cuba, which will run until 22 December. During the opening night of the event the donation was made to the Ministry of Culture, one of the 8 "Chucho Valdes" pianos specially designed for Jazz by the Seibu Piano Company in Japan, inspired by the strength, harmony and the sounds of the Cuban Master. The inside of the lid of the instrument, delivered by Mr. Kentaro Sakai, president of the Japanese company, shows a painting by the Cuban artist Alberto Lescay, and was played for the first tinme during the opening gala. Outstanding young musicians from the island showed their talent during the inaugural evening hosted by the capital's Teatro Mella, including percussionist Yissy García (JoJazz Award 2006 and 2010), who has developed a solid career along really important musicians and groups in the country. The pianist and composer Harold López Nussa (Solo Piano Competition Prize in Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland 2005), was accompanied by his brother Adrian Lopez Nussa on drums, Gastón Joya on bass, and Maikel Gonzalez on trumpet. One of...

The new corals of Latin American cinema are born each December in Havana. This symbol, which for more than three decades has identified the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema is today the highest recognition given by Cuba to aesthetic and themed risk of contemporary film production in Latin America to distinguish and promote cinematic creations that enrich the cultural heritage and identity of our nations. For the first time, the Festival won’t have the leadership of its founder and president for 34 editions, Alfredo Guevara. So, how do you think, conceive and design a festival without Alfredo? This was the question that Ivan Giroud (current President of the Festival, and also Director of the Festival House) and his staff raised throughout the organization of the event. The answer is simple. In the words of Giroud: "the presence of Alfredo will be in the entire Festival, because Alfredo and the Festival are indivisible ." As a fitting tribute, the 35th edition of the Festival, to be held from December 5 to 15, has organized, among other activities, the projection of six programs of 90 'min of the Latin American ICAIC Newsreel (emissions corresponding to the first decade of the...

Since its inception in 1998 as an initiative of Maestro Chucho Valdes, the young jazz musicians JoJazz Contest has become the most significant space for promotion and recruitment of novice jazz talents in Cuba. From its different calls, several musicians have excelled such as Yasek Manzano, Rolando Luna, Alejandro Falcon, Jose Luis Pacheco, Yissy Garcia, among others. Thus, it is announced the 16th edition of Jojazz, to be held in Havana from November 14 to 17 and which will be dedicated to the master of Cuban popular music Armando Romeu (flutist, saxophonist, orchestrator and arranger, one of the founders of the Cuban Modern Music Orchestra, and also director of the Santa Clara’s Modern Music Orchestra). In his tribute, the event will organize a special concert at Havana’s Mella Theatre by Joaquín Betancourt and his Jazz Band, where will be performed works arranged by Romeu. Jojazz 2013, sponsored by the National Centre for Popular Music, the Cuban Music Institute, and in conjunction with the National Center for Arts Education, will present young students and alumni from six provinces (Pinar del Rio, Havana, Camaguey, Holguin, Santiago de Cuba, and Guantanamo). Overall, 10 contestants will participate in the section of Interpretation / Children...

The Caribbean Festival, also known as the Fiesta del Fuego, is an international event that brings together the most diverse elements of popular culture and groups that preserve the traditions of a whole region, and it is held annually in Santiago de Cuba. It is a point of convergence for the different cultural expressions of our peoples, through art, literature, crafts, and scientific and religious knowledge. From July 3 to 9, this year’s festival, the 33rd, will be dedicated to the Colombian Caribbean, and will feature a delegation of more than 150 people from that country, including the outstanding folk singer and dancer Toto la Momposina (Sonia Bazanta Vides); a group from the Baranquilla carnival, a UNESCO World Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity; and well-known poets, storytellers, visual artists, anthropologists, and exponents of Colombian popular and traditional culture. In more than 50 venues, including parks, theaters, plazas, avenues, and other alternative spaces, many parades and artistic galas will be held, along with art exhibitions, concerts, dance and theater presentations, magical/religious ceremonies, and poetry readings and storytelling sessions. In addition, the important “The Caribbean that Unites Us” International Colloquium will be held, a moment of academic reflection on...

" The vitality of Cuban cinema of the past four decades has resided in moments of denial and monitoring where usually emerge groups of authors with such a strong- expressively personalities that can not stop setting patterns, or assuming a search that usually results in a risk. That's what art history scholars call vanguard, it is the blessing of any cultural project, and hence the maturity of this sample, because it could clarify that Cuban cinema is unique, ever stronger the more diverse. " These would be the words of film critic Dean Luis Reyes when he referred to the 1st Exhibition of Young Cuban Filmmakers in 2001, where were exhibited 22 documentaries, 11 fiction films and a cartoon. This edition paid tribute to the renowned directors Teresita Ordoqui, Belkis Vega and Tomas Piard, and was p resided by Omar Vazquez and Juan Antonio Garcia was the general director. This event awarded no official prizes; however, the most honorees works by critics and the public did not pass unnoticed and were recognized in this first experience of the Sample: ¨CAIDIJE... La extensa realidad , ¨ by Gustavo Pérez; ¨La época, el encanto y el fin de siglo, ¨ by Juan...

That’s what I call passion, blind faith in yourself and in an ideal. As Martí said, “The angry sea gives a weak idea of the waves provoked by passion.” It is that whirlwind that springs from within us; the least we can do is unleash it. It is that sensation of freedom, which becomes serene with the years, to which Miravalles refers when he says “My great happiness has been to devote myself to what most satisfies me: being an actor.” I think that explains his frequent smiles, and those bursts of laughter that have been captured quite a few times in the history of Cuban cinema, and which today continue to make him endearing. After 20 years without filming in Cuba, Miravalles received a script by Eduardo Eimil from director Gerardo Chijona. It is based on and named after a novel by Eliseo Alberto (Lichi) Diego, called Esther en alguna parte (Esther Somewhere). “In all of these years, I have received proposals for work, but none stimulated me like the script for Esther en alguna parte,” Miravalles says. “At first I thought it was very long, and we decided to develop a second version. That one didn’t convince me...

Every year, Cuba’s International Book Fair is reaffirmed as the most all-encompassing, massive cultural event in the country. And there is a reason for that: with its different spaces for professional, academic and artistic exchange—book launches, forums, colloquiums, readings, concerts, exhibitions, etc.—it creates a close dialogue with diverse processes in Cuban, Latin American and universal culture.

According to legend, when Christopher Columbus landed in Cuba, he was seduced by the local practice of consuming a certain aromatic plant with supreme pleasure. Tobacco, as the indigenous Taíno people called this endemic plant of South America, dazzled the Spanish royalty, whose appetite for it soon led to its exportation and sale all over the world. Today, it is a symbol of tradition, wisdom, distinction, legend and identity. More than five centuries of selective tobacco cultivation and production of Cuban cigars, or Habanos, on the island certify their uniqueness worldwide.

Lassen wir uns von Erinnerungen hinreißen, vielleicht wegen der Anekdoten, die man uns erzählt hat, oder unserer eigenen Vorstellungen wegen: wäre Paris aus Lichtern gemacht, Wien in Sinfonien geschrieben, Berlin hätte Theatergeschmack, und im Frühling wäre Italien "Mode". Für den uruguayischen Schriftsteller Eduardo Galeano, "riecht Dezember nach Kino" in Havanna. Und der Autor des Buches El libro de los abrazos (Das Buch der Umarmungen) weiß, warum er das sagt.

如果让 记忆带着我们，也许那些我们曾讲过的故事，包括我们的想象力：用灯光塑造的巴黎，用和谐书写的维也纳；剧院风味的柏林；意大利春天的时装展。对乌拉圭作家 Eduardo Galeano，哈瓦那《电影味道的12月》，以及《拥抱的书》的作者知道他为什么这样说。 对于一些人来说，哈瓦那拉美新电影节只是一个活动，对于其他人来说，它是一年最重要的事情，同时他们认为也是一个特有的空间。但是，可以肯定的是，不管它的巧合程度，对于所有人来说，就是拿出冬天的衣服，在城市看电影的时刻。哈瓦那开始宣传，充满了海报,通知和爆米花；专属的首演，那么多不间断的队伍直到破晓就为了看到Subiela, Sorín, Fernando Pérez, Almodóvar 或者 Meirelles的最后一部电影。可以说的故事一天都说不完

If we let our memories or imagination carry us away, or think about anecdotes we have heard, Paris is made of lights; Vienna is written in symphonies; Berlin tastes like theater, and Italy in the spring becomes “fashionable.” According to Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, “December smells like cinema” in Havana. And Galeano, author of The Book of Embraces, knows what he’s talking about.

Photos: Courtesy of Gaia Teatro Learning about Esther’s story is energizing. And I am not being adulatory, you can be sure. This loyal native of Sancti Spíritus province is proof that perseverance makes dreams come true. And that is not cheap romanticism, because of course a number of elements need to be in place for a project like the one she created to be possible. However, both the Gaia Teatro company of Havana and Casa Gaia have been able align their stars.

Photos: Cortesía de La Colmenita “A day without La Colmenita is the most boring in the world.” Lili was categorical. It summed it all up for her. I couldn’t help but imagine what my childhood would have been like among their games, laughter and songs as one big happy family. Because that is how this children’s company works: like one big happy family.

La mitad de mi vida, proyecto instalativo del artista cubano de la plástica Ernesto Rancaño, a exponerse en el Complejo Morro-Cabaña como parte de las exhibiciones colaterales de la Oncena Bienal de La Habana, constituye una reflexión del autor sobre ese momento de la vida en el que nos detenemos un instante a mirar hacia atrás, para luego avanzar con verdades más ciertas y miedos menos paralizantes.