On Location in Cuba: Street Filmmaking during Times of Transition

4. Opening New Roads: Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti Redefines Revolutionary Filmmaking

I believe that a revolutionary is someone who re-evolves. —Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti Opening New Roads Juan carlos cremata malbertI redefInes revolutIonary fIlmmakIng A made-in-Cuba road movie competed in the 2005 Cannes International Film Festival. And it met with remarkable success . Viva Cuba came away with the Grand Prix Ecrans Juniors, marking the first time a Cuban film had obtained an award at this prestigious event.1 Upon collecting the coveted prize, director Juan Carlos Cremata received a phone call from Cuba. It was the president’s office at the ICaIC congratulating him and wanting to discuss plans for distributing the film on the island. Such a gesture may seem pro forma. But it actually constituted a bold move, given the institute’s earlier rejection of Cremata Malberti’s proposal. The ICaIC had opted not to produce Candela, an elaborate musical the filmmaker envisioned bringing to the screen. Moreover, at the 2004 installment of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana, Cremata Malberti had been 4 10 cloSE -u p // notably absent from an industry-organized panel featuring Cuban directors with films in progress. When a member of the audience asked why this director had not participated, even though he was working on Viva Cuba at the time, the ICaIC spokesperson replied, “I don’t know what Cremata ’s up to. What I do know is that he’s not making a film with us.” It appeared that only those working within and relying on the ICaIC could be considered “Cuban” filmmakers at that time. That may have been the case at one point, but Viva Cuba demonstrates that times have changed. Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti was one of the first cineastes to cross the line and make films inside and outside the state-supported film institute. By constructing his identity as an auteur, Cremata Malberti effectively positioned himself as both a “Cuban” filmmaker working to enhance the island’s national culture and a transnational auteur engaged with global cinema practices. In deftly managing his dual identity, this fortysomething director set a precedent that would help redefine film production in Cuba and insert a new brand of Cuban films into the international marketplace. The training Cremata Malberti received was a principal factor shaping his trajectory. In 1987, he was selected to enroll in the newly founded eICtv (discussed in Chapter 1). As one of fifty students from nearly twenty countries—only six Cubans in all—he had the unique opportunity to learn to make films from a cadre of international professionals and to work alongside peers from countries as diverse as Mozambique, Guineau, Brazil, and Puerto Rico. The aspiring filmmaker thrived at the school and earned his degree in 1990. This experience was transformative , exposing Cremata Malberti to a century’s worth of films and traditions from around the world; empowering him to experiment with the medium, tackle new technologies, and learn “on the fly”; and affording him access to an extensive network of international film professionals and agencies. At the eICtv Cremata Malberti became adept at negotiating transnational markets, multinational finances, and global communications networks. His conception of audiovisual praxis as part and parcel of the multidirectional flows of culture and capital has, without a doubt, positioned him in the forefront of Cuba’s film world today. Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti is held up as a model for other selfstarting filmmakers. If a door on the island is closed to him, this director does not stand knocking. Instead, he pounds the pavement, circulating 11 Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti his ideas and mobilizing his contacts in an effort to garner support from elsewhere. Cremata Malberti’s vision is innovative, his list of awards is lengthy, and his Rolodex is expansive. He knows what he wants and has figured out how to get it. A border-crosser, he comfortably straddles art forms, film traditions, ideologies, and geopolitical territories. Whereas some shy away from these crossroads—contested zones that provoke clashes and produce collisions—here Cremata Malberti feels most at home.The savoir faire and entrepreneurial approach of this cineaste have inspired many of his contemporaries as well as filmmakers of the next generation. This chapter tracks Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti over nearly twenty years to illustrate the evolution of one of the most renowned Cuban auteurs of his generation. His success emanates from his unique authorial identity, engendered by his eccentric...