• Tweeter
  • republish

Cuban independent cinema is now allowed on the island (illustration image). AFP Photos / Yamil Lage

Independent Cuban film production is legalized. The government recognizes and allows from this day on the independent artists of Cuban cinema who rejoice. But that does not mean freedom of creation.

With our correspondent in Havana, Domitille Piron

The film producer officially becomes a private sector worker in Cuba. The debate around the independents lasted more than a decade and now leads to a legal status. An official register of independent professionals has been created, it will be possible to open a bank account for a film and the filmmakers will have access to a Cuban cinema support fund.

The famous Strawberry and chocolate actor, Jorge Perugorría, who has played both official and independent films, is delighted with this new measure: " The independent cinema in Cuba was a fact, a reality, but it was not part of a legal and legal framework, everyone made movies outside the law. So this is a first step to make legal, which has been done for years. But there has always been a complicity in one way or another with the institution, especially with regard to filming authorizations. You could make your film, but nothing guaranteed you to broadcast it . "

►Also read: From Cuba to the Mir station, "Sergio y Serguei", shipwrecked history

The distribution of films remains under state control through ICAIC, the Cuban Institute of Art and the Film Industry. So, for some, like the producer Claudia Calviño , this decree does not solve a fundamental question: " This is another debate that must be opened on the freedom of creation and the free expression of art and may even be beyond ! The decree is in fact considered as the preamble of a new law on cinema in Cuba.