With this month being the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, two Cal State Long Beach professors want to change the way people view the Cuban culture.
Professors Bonnie Gasior and Nhora Serrano are hosting “¡Viva Cuba!,” a Cuban film festival beginning Feb. 19 which continues every Thursday at 7 p.m. through March 19.
“We were inspired that it’s the 50th year of the Cuban revolution and think that people in this country who say ‘Cuba’ automatically think of politics. I mean, it’s hard to talk about Cuba and not talk about politics,” said Gasior. “But I think we wanted to underscore just the whole Cuban experience and celebrate Cuba as a country and their people and let people know that there is more to Cuba than just politics.”
The film festival is going to screen five films in Lecture Hall 150. All of the films will be in Spanish with English subtitles, with the first one being “¡Viva Cuba!,” directed by Juan Carlos Cremata Malberth. The other films, “Vampiros En La Habana,” “Balseros,” “Habana Blues” and “Suite Habana” will be shown on subsequent Thursday nights.
“The first one is a story that deals with two young children. That’s kind of a love story, but there are also class undercurrents,” Gasior said. “We have a film that’s a cartoon, and the last movie is one that looks at the everyday lives of Cubans, and it has no dialogue.”
The two professors are also thrilled that they’re able to put on such an event.
“We are lucky to be at an institution that supports both financially and academically this type of endeavor,” Serrano said.
The film festival is also another way for students to be shown another kind of foreign filmmaking.
“I think it’s a good idea that this film festival is happening,” said Ryne Doty, a graduate history student. “I love foreign movies but have never seen a Cuban film, so I would like to go and check it out and maybe get a different perspective and insight into that whole culture.”
The overall goal is aimed to create conversation among students and faculty members as to what it’s like to be Cuban.
“I’m hoping that people are enlightened, and maybe if there’s any stereotypes out there, that people leave the film thinking something positive, and just generating some discussion about what it is to be Cuban,” Gasior said, “because in this country, we have so little contact with Cuba that it’s kind of this big question mark.”
The film festival, which is free, is being sponsored by International Projects, CSULB’s Department of Romance, German, Russian Languages and Literature, the Latin American studies program, and CSULB’s Department of Comparative World Literature and Classics.