Press Release 11/2016
Cottbus, 28 October 2016
Cuba between East and West - >Focus series at the 26th FilmFestival Cttbus
From 8 to 13 November, the FilmFestival Cottbus will take stock of Cuban reality and compare it to the change in Eastern Europe
"At the FilmFestival Cottbus, Eastern Europe is not merely a geographical term. For a long time, Cuba constituted an ideological entity together with the states of the Eastern bloc", stresses film journalist and co-curator of the series Wolfgang Martin Hamdorf. "The current political opening up of the country now results, with delayed effect, in new commonalities. What makes more sense than to compare the respective perceptions regarding the change?"
19 short, medium-length and long films by international and Cuban film makers will do just that between 8 and 13 November. The FilmFestival will be welcoming eight of these film makers in person. The critical examination of today?s Cuba and its recent past finds expression in topics dealing with exile, families that are torn apart and the longing for a better life.
Feature films and documentaries by young talents and experienced directors will be contrasted by two GDR-produced films, including the film CARLOS by Humberto López Guerra. Like numerous of his colleagues, Guerra learned his craft at an Eastern European film school, the former Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen in Potsdam-Babelsberg. The short film programme 'Cuba in Shorts' reveals surprising insights by young directors into the reality of Cuba today.
The series >Focus Cuba was curate by Wolfgang Martin Hamdorf and the film maker Daniel Abma, whose documentary about gender reassignments in Cuba, TRANSIT HAVANNA, will be screened in German cinemas from 3 November and will also be shown at the FilmFestival Cottbus. Series focusing on other extra-European regions whose development has been characterised by close ties to Eastern Europe are being planned for the coming years.
>Focus Cubain the programme of "Kino Hinter Gittern", "interfilm" and bpb
The FilmFestival will screen the film HAVANNA MI AMOR, winner of the 'Lola' in 2001, on 9 November in cooperation with the Menschenrechtszentrum Cottbus e.V. (Centre for Human Rights Cottbus); the film's director Uli Gaulke will be present. At the same time, the film is part of the film series "Kino Hinter Gittern" (Cinema Behind Bars) organised by the FilmFestival Cottbus from September to December 2016 at the Memorial Prison of Cottbus with support from the Brandenburg State Centre for Political Education.
The programme featuring short films from and about Cuba was compiled in cooperation with the "interfilm" International Short Film Festival Berlin, where it will also be shown in mid-November. The >Focus Cuba series is supported by the German Federal Centre for Political Education (bpb). A selection of films from the series, augmented by work material, will be made available for streaming on the bpb' web portal. For the 26th time, from 8 to 13 November, the FilmFestival Cottbus will be the most important international showcase for Eastern European cinema. It receives support from the Federal State of Brandenburg, the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH, the City of Cottbus, the German Federal Foreign Office and the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
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