Six independent Cuban film projects receive the PM Awards 2023 of the International Institute of Artivism “Hannah Arendt”
By RIALTA STAFF - October 27th, 2023
RIALTA
The PM Awards 2023, presented by the International Institute of Artivism "Hannah Arendt" (INSTAR), honored six Cuban audiovisual projects across three categories –post-production of short and feature films, and distribution– from a pool of 34 submissions.
This was announced on social media by Cuban artist Tania Bruguera, the visible head of INSTAR, who pointed out that participation in this edition more than doubled that of previous years.
The jury, Venezuelan visual artist and activist Javier Tellez, Cuban filmmaker Rafael Ramirez, and his Nicaraguan colleague Gloria Carrion, unanimously decided to award the following projects in the short film production category (20 entries), with a five thousand dollar prize for each: " History is Written at Night", by Alejandro Alonso, and "The Dam", by Manuel Ojeda.
In the feature film post-production category, which provides seven thousand dollars in each case, 'Family in Motion', by Aminta de Cárdenas and Helman Avelle, as well as "'Cuba and the Night', by Sergio Fernández Borrás, were selected.
The distribution fund (1,500 dollars) will support 'The Blame Was on the Salamander', by Yary Guirado, and 'Souvenir', by Heidi Hassan.
Beyond the Cuban filmmakers' recognition of the fund provided by INSTAR, Bruguera said, the growing participation in this call for the PM Awards " underlines the importance of expanding [the] support for their work, on many occasions carried out in conditions of extreme precariousness and without institutional support from their home country."
"It also demonstrates the perseverance of these artists to continue creating, amid difficulties, whether inside Cuba or in any corner of exile," added the renowned Cuban performer. "We are committed to creating new opportunities and spaces for Cuban filmmakers and their films."
For their part, the members of the jury defined these awards as "a fundamental tool for the creation of a plural Cuban cinema capable of dialoguing with other cinematographic manifestations at a global level.
In the opinion of the evaluators, most of the competing proposals "stand out for their diversity, artistic and cinematographic quality, as well as for the complexity of their reflections on the political and social context". They also said they "demonstrate the resilience, creativity, and dynamism of Cuban filmmakers.
"The relevance of their messages and the originality of their cinematic approaches reflect a community of artists deeply committed to telling their stories despite the challenges some of them face, such as exile, political persecution, and state repression," the jury's minutes finally state.
Additionally, Rafael Ramírez committed to consulting on the project 'The Philosophers', by Dayán Noa, while Gloria Carrión will do the same for three film projects: 'Family, Island', by Abraham Jiménez and Claudia Calviño; 'Rancor', by Carlos Alejandro Halley, and 'Anthropocene', by Marcos A. Iglesias Ravelo.
You can read the original note here