Continuidad y cambio en el c ine cubano contemporáneo

Abstract

The Cuban cinematography of the 20th century, conceived in parallel with the formation of the New Latin American Cinema, tended to reflect the political system’s immobility, but it also let the filmmakers create some truly valuable masterpieces. In the 21st century Cuban cinema shows no fear to reveal the main problems and social contradictions of the country. Nowadays Cuba goes through some significant political and social changes and reforms, and these transformations appear as well in the cinematography of this socialist country. We come across topics that try to reproduce the real Cuba, together with the darker side of the everyday life. These topics are, for example, the violence, crime, legal and illegal activities of the society, poverty and prostitution; all these have become common and inseparable elements of the Cubans’ life in order to be able to survive. Cuban cinema does not conceal these unpleasant details from the public. Individual and social uncertainty are now recurrent constituents of today’s Cuban movies, while the negative or rarely positive consequences of consumer culture also turn up in recent films. The aim of my article is to outline a panoramic picture about the contemporary Cuban cinema through some peculiar examples and to differentiate between the old and new directions of the Seventh Art in the country of the Castro brothers.

Keywords

• ew Latin American Cinema
• Cuban cinema
• political and social reforms