Guests Mariela Castro and Juan Carlos Tabio at Cine Cuba
Campaign News | Tuesday, 7 April 2009
50 Years of Revolution in Film: Friday 3 to Thursday 9 July
Cuba50 and the Barbican welcome some very exciting guests to Cine Cuba: 50 Years of Revolution in Film this July: screenwriter/director Juan Carlos Tabio and campaigner Mariela Castro. With issues surrounding equality in sex, gender and race emerging in this year’s programme through films such as Strawberry and Chocolate, Up to a Certain Point, Cecilia and Raza, the festival is delighted to play host to a timely discussion on these themes between Tabio and Castro along with Alberto Roque, a leading gay rights activist in Cuba (see below for details).
Writer/director Juan Carlos Tabío has worked closely with Tomás Gutiérrez Alea throughout his career, co-directing Strawberry and Chocolate and gaining a Best Foreign Language Oscar nomination with him. Cine Cuba is delighted to be screening Strawberry and Chocolate on re-release each night of the festival, as well as screening Up to a Certain Point, which Tabío co-wrote for Alea. Tabío’s latest film as director also features in Cine Cuba: The Horn of Plenty (El Cuerno de la Abundancia) is a screwball comedy based on true events when Cuban families sharing the same name tried to lay claim to a large inheritance. Tabío will be attending Cine Cuba from Friday 3 July to Monday 6 July and will be available for interview.
Mariela Castro is daughter of Cuba’s president Raùl Castro, niece of Fidel Castro and director of the Cuban National Centre for Sex Education in Havana. Mariela Castro campaigns for AIDS prevention along with the recognition of the rights of homosexuals, bisexuals, transvestites and transsexuals in Cuba. She is also a widely published author.
Mariela Castro will be attending Cine Cuba on Saturday 4th July for a special discussion on gay rights in Cuba, following the 8.45pm screening of Strawberry and Chocolate. She will be joined by Alberto Roque, a leading gay rights activist in Cuba and Juan Carlos Tabío for this discussion.
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