Viva Lewes Issue #132 September 2017

ON THIS MONTH: FILM
Fernando Perez
Cuban film maker
Fidel Castro famously
said: ‘Within the
revolution, everything;
against the revolution,
nothing’. Has
his death made a difference
to the stories
Cuban filmmakers
tell? I can’t speak for all
of us, but from my point
of view the attitude
hasn’t changed. And
that attitude attempts to
reflect our country with all its light and shade; all its
successes and contradictions.
This film is called ‘Last Days in Havana’. Does
it reflect the end of an era? Maybe, but not
necessarily. Last Days in Havana means to reflect the
complexity of the current situation, the reality of
Cuba today. And the film doesn’t reflect the whole
reality, just a part of it. In 2003 I tried to express
the same themes in the documentary Suite Habana,
which I consider my most representative film,
because it’s the one which is most popular. It’s just
that today in 2017 the conditions for survival have
got more difficult and people are behaving in a way
that reflects a very different, more contradictory
value system.
Can you tell us about the two main characters
in ‘Last Days’? Are they typically Cuban
characters? Diego and Miguel are both Cuban, but
borders don’t come into it because their conflicts
are human, and therefore universal. What distinguishes
them as Cubans is their capacity to live
their daily life without dramatizing it, facing each
day with positivity.
What do you think of the state of Cuban
cinema in this period? What could be done to
improve the climate for film making? Cuban
cinema is recovering
its dynamism thanks
to a push from a new
generation of filmmakers,
which already
guarantees an unstoppable
independent
production line. We
trust that this production
line will be legally
recognized sooner
rather than later.
I notice this film
was produced by [Spanish company] Wandavision?
How come? José María Morales, director of
Wandavision, has been the co-producer of my films
for the last 20 years. He’s very creative and doesn’t
think of cinema in terms of how much money there
is to be made. He’s more interested in the artistic
results... He’s got a lot of spirit, just like Ann Cross,
tilting against windmills for a Quixotic dream.
Have you ever considered making a film outside
Cuba? What problems would you anticipate if
you did? I can’t imagine I ever will. I’ve received
offers, but I’ve always ended up making my films in
Cuba. Perhaps it’s because I feel more creative in
my own country…
What offering can we expect next from Fernando
Perez? This very day I’ve been filming IN-
SUMISA, a film which tells the story of Enriqueta
Faber, a Swiss woman who posed as a man in order
to be able to practice medicine at the beginning of
the 19th century in Baracoa, in the extreme east of
Cuba. It’s a new challenge and I don’t know how it
will end, but I’m having a great time finding out.
Dexter Lee
Last Days in Havana, Duke of York’s Brighton,
September 10th, 1pm, screening organised by Lewes
legend and Cuban film enthusiast Ann Cross.
49