Headlines, Latin America & the Caribbean

Q&A: "Blogmailing" to Foment Debate on Cuban Filmmaking

Dalia Acosta interviews Cuban intellectual JUAN ANTONIO GARCÍA BORRERO

HAVANA, Sep 2 2009 (IPS) - Blogging has taught him to share his deepest concerns with people who think differently, to treat others and himself more compassionately, to learn from even the most impassioned disputes, and above all, to show that far from being the sole possessor of truth, he is desperately seeking it.

"I don't know who I am. A curriculum vitae only outlines the ego in 80 lines. I only know that I post, therefore I am," is all Cuban intellectual Juan Antonio García Borrero says about himself on his blog Cine Cubano: La Pupila Insomne (Cuban Cinema: The Sleepless Eye), which has fulfilled its original function of fomenting "a culture of polemics."

The idea arose from the debate known as the "email war" which followed a Jan. 6, 2007 programme on Cuban state television that praised the contributions to culture of Luis Pavón, a government official responsible for censorship of artists, intellectuals and their works during the 1970s.

García Borrero wanted to discuss Cuban films from a broad perspective that would include dissident opinions and the views of critics abroad, as well as the official angle, and to reconstruct the history of the genre, through filmmakers who live in Cuba and also those who have worked for decades in different countries.

Two years later, La Pupila Insomne, as well as "rethinking" history, has become a forum for sometimes heated debate on a wide range of hot topics in cinema, including cultural politics, analysing the work of the new generation of "young directors," and whether or not there is such a thing as a school of "young thought."

IPS: What were your expectations when you started the blog, and what do you think it has become? JUAN ANTONIO GARCÍA BORRERO: I started the blog because of the controversy surrounding Pavón's reappearance on Cuban television. At that time I was in Spain on a Carolina Foundation scholarship, and the Cuban blogosphere was bursting with vitality.

I actually never thought the blog would last more than six months, and in fact I closed it down for a while. My aim was to provide a site for discussing Cuban films from an overall perspective that would be much broader than that which assumes the history of national filmmaking is no more than the history of ICAIC (the state Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Arts and Industry).

The results have far surpassed my expectations, mainly because the recent participation of filmmakers and directors, many of them living outside of Cuba, has enriched our view of Cuban filmmaking.

IPS: What role do you think this new kind of communication is playing in Cuba today? JAGB: In my view, it's helping to raise awareness of how precarious our public sphere actually is.

I mean, we have always been quite critical of its shortcomings, but now they are becoming so evident that I doubt remedial action can be postponed any longer. You can't live with your back to the world, especially in these times when everything seems to be connected. In my opinion, the right thing to do would be to establish a relationship with this new phenomenon, with a critical eye.

IPS: Given the restricted access to the internet in a country where, at the moment, residential connections barely exist, what real impact do you think this kind of initiative can have? JAGB: Access to the internet in Cuba is a problem, but it's not impossible to overcome. Intellectuals have legal access; for instance, members of the Union of Writers and Artists (UNEAC) are able to surf the web. The real problem lies elsewhere.

I don't think it has really sunk in here yet that we're living in a new age. We are only just starting to become literate in information technology, so the traditional ways of keeping all our information in books and files continue to predominate.

The same is true of knowledge production and consumption. So it isn't surprising that Cuban critics find terms like "blogosphere" a turn-off, and continue to depend on traditional media (like television or the press).

Personally, I have tried to practise what I call "blogmailing," when I circulate specific blog entries to a group of interested people, which has had good results because it has sparked interesting debates about the "young filmmakers" or the so-called "invisible occupations" (for example, assistant directors).

IPS: What do you think the blog has contributed to the present debate in artistic and intellectual circles on issues such as cultural policy and the role of intellectuals in Cuban society? JAGB: If so many people hadn't contributed to the blog by now, it would be pretentious to say that it has made a contribution.

I have always emphasised that this is an independent site, where the focus is Cuban filmmaking in general. That's why we can find discussions on the latest ICAIC works as well as films directed by Cubans living abroad.

I am quite surprised that civilised dialogue has predominated so far, which is not to say that hard words have not been exchanged. I think the main contribution of the blog is just that: it not only shows there is an eagerness to think about Cuban cinema, but also that it is possible to do so in a systematic fashion.

IPS: In a country where the state owns the media, and use of the internet is still quite limited, what sort of reception has La Pupila Insomne had in official circles and among artists and intellectuals? JAGB: "Officially," I have no idea. I have not received any comments at all, for or against. Apart from that, the blog is still functioning, as can be seen by the many contributions from Cuban filmmakers like Jorge Pucheux, Mario Crespo and Marina Ochoa.

This would have been enough to justify the blog being hosted on some Cuban web page, but so far that hasn't happened. I have, however, been supported by some very prominent Cuban intellectuals, from within the island as well as abroad.

The main thing, I think, is to continue to encourage participation, especially by film directors, because that will give us a clearer idea of how filmmaking has been carried out in Cuba.

So far, the history of Cuban cinema has been written by critics and historians who have almost always focused on what can be seen on the screen. But the muddy behind-the scenes history at the foundations of every film has remained in the shadows.

It's time we all joined together to defend the historic memory of this activity, and of the people involved in it.