164
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
1 collections
    0
    shares

      If you have found this article useful and you think it is important that researchers across the world have access, please consider donating, to ensure that this valuable collection remains Open Access.

      International Journal of Cuban Studies is published by Pluto Journals, an Open Access publisher. This means that everyone has free and unlimited access to the full-text of all articles from our international collection of social science journalsFurthermore Pluto Journals authors don’t pay article processing charges (APCs).

      scite_
       
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      El futuro es hoy (2009): A Poetic Look at Generation Y or 90

      research-article
      International Journal of Cuban Studies
      Pluto Journals
      documentary, Havana, Sandra Gómez, cinema, Cuba, ICAIC
      Bookmark

            Abstract

            This article analyses Sandra Gómez's Cuban documentary El futuro es hoy, which has won awards not only in Cuba but also in Europe. The article first studies in detail the content of this short film, whose main theme focuses upon the current situation in Cuba and, specifically, what the seven protagonists think about their future in the island. The article then situates Sandra's work within the Hispanic cinematic context. The conclusion is that the film is derived from both film and literary influences and argues that it has a poetic character observed in her particular way of portraying the current state of affairs in Cuba. Finally, the article places her work within the so-called ‘Generation Y’ or ‘90’ in Cuba.

            Content

            Author and article information

            Contributors
            Journal
            10.13169
            intejcubastud
            International Journal of Cuban Studies
            Pluto Journals
            17563461
            1756347X
            Winter 2014
            : 6
            : 2
            : 189-204
            Affiliations
            Mount Royal University, Calgary
            Article
            intejcubastud.6.2.0189
            10.13169/intejcubastud.6.2.0189
            33c7b877-4332-401e-be8f-6a6f886e4149
            © International Institute for the Study of Cuba

            All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

            History
            Categories
            Academic Articles

            Literary studies,Arts,Social & Behavioral Sciences,History,Cultural studies,Economics
            cinema,Sandra Gómez,Havana,documentary,ICAIC,Cuba

            Notes

            1. Award SIGNIS 2009 in the Muestra Nuevos Realizadores Cubanos (Havana); Best Documentary Award in the 8th Edition of the Euganea Film Festival 2009 (Italy); Golden Award in the International Film Festival Film Insulaire 2010 (Groix). More information in http://www.peacock.ch/index.php?site=DOCUMENTARIES&film=35&show=festivalsandawards.

            2. About the controversial term of cubanidad, it is interesting to remember its geographical meaning and in particular to rescue the definition provided by the geographers and in their book Cuban Landscapes: Heritage, Memory and Place . New York: The Guilford Press, 2009.

            3. In fact, Sandra Gómez told me that in 2010 Cuba prohibited to fish in the Malecón and, as a result, this fisherman cannot fish there anymore.

            4. The central office of SIGNIS is in Brussels. Over there they have money to finance the video projects of these young Cubans. SIGNIS does not belong to the ICAIC. On the contrary, SIGNIS belongs to the Catholic Church, and they are always against the Marxist system. Sandra Gómez is so far the only director who has been awarded twice by SIGNIS.

            5. I met him personally during the SIGNIS awards ceremony on 24 February 2009.

            6. For instance, remember the awarded novel by , El hombre, la hembra y el hambre (1998).

            7. According to the director, ‘esta carpa es en realidad una gran excepción, un caso único. Un suceso aislado, independiente, casi fuera de la ley, porque en realidad estaría prohibido colocar una carpa así allí en las rocas; solo que este personaje es una buena persona y ya los policías lo conocen. Ellos saben que vive justo en el edificio de enfrente y lo dejan en paz’ (author's unpublished interview to ).

            8. That ‘something’ could well be that anticipated fiesta that foresees Roberto González Echevarría (2010: 281), when he mentions in his book titled Cuban Fiestas: ‘A certain death is needed before people will pour out onto the streets and begin dancing again.’

            9. Sisyphus was the first King of Ephyra, and because of his use of trickery, he was punished by Hermes to roll a huge stone up a steep hill. Due to the heavy weight of the stone, he was inevitably forced to begin again. However, the fisherman differs from Sisyphus in the sense that he does not seem to be condemned to a futile exercise.

            10. Also I had the honour to meet and watch her short film during the ‘Coloquio Internacional Ciudad y Mujeres’ organised by Luisa Campuzano in Casa de las Américas, Havana, 23–27 February 2009.

            11. This particular financing comes from outside and is a problem that affects other artistic productions, especially literature due to the fall of the Cuban publishing industry during the ‘Special Period’, which forced several writers to look for a publisher outside the island. Therefore, we can see Cuban art produced by foreign money and hence the question of whether Cuban authors abroad have an ‘agenda’, and if so, whether this is due to targeting a specific Cuban audience or, on the contrary, this is provoked by the demand of a foreign market. That is to say, foreigners are interested in buying Cuban art without knowing the politics in the island. For more information, please read the books of Esther Withfield (2007) and (2011).

            12. Apart from alluding to the already disappeared literary supplement of Pardo Lazo, known as Lunes de Revolución, here we also think that it is necessary to remember what is meant by its disappearance, which according to Howe is ‘a definite end to semi-independent presses and aesthetic freedom’ ( 2004: 187).

            Comments

            Comment on this article