REVIEWS

Cuba’s new filmmakers,
critical and insightful

AN INTERVIEW WITH ORLANDO ROJAS

Cuban director Orlando Rojas was in Toronto recently for the Festival of Cuban
films held at Harborfront and sponsored by the Canada-Cuba Friendship Asso-
ciation. Born in Santa Clara, Cuba in 1950, Rojas has worked at the Cuban Institute
of Cinematographic Art (ICAIC) since 1973. Director of the award-winning docu- _
mentary, Sometimes I Look at My Life, a penetrating and sympathetic study ofthe life _
and politics of singer Harry Belafonte, Rojas is representative of a new generation of —

Paul Ogresko, -

TRIBUNE: What effect has the revolu-
tion had on your films and -your
development as a filmmaker?

ROJAS: I was born within the revolu-
tion. It has had total influence; not only
as an artist but as a person. I live in a
country experiencing a revolution and
my films speak of this.

TRIB: What were your impressions of
the recent (Dec. 1985) 7th Annual
Havana Film Festival?

ROJAS: This is the showcase of Latin
American cinema. For 15 days ideas are
exchanged on film and its production
from all over the world. This festival in
particular was politically important for
Cuba. It helped us get around the Reagan
administration's blockade and promote
the dialogue between Cubans and
Americans that Reagan is trying so hard
to prevent. It was the first time that big-
named U.S. stars such as Jack Lemmon,
Robert De Niro and Harry Belafonte
were present.

TRIB: How do Cubans view U.S. ar-
tists; are U.S. films shown in Cuba?

ROJAS: Cubans have a warm, appre-
ciative respect for progressive U.S. ar-
tists and film which are featured in our
cinemas and on TV. Although we don’t
have access to as many as we'd like be-
cause of the blockade. (Since 1960 the
U.S. has held a complete economic, poli-
tical, cultural and military blockade

against Cuba and has pressured, with

varying degrees of success, other coun-
tries to join in.)

TRIB: What about films like Rambo?
ROJAS: It’s sad that this is such a popu-
lar film, since people absorb what they
see. Rambo coincides with American

‘policy. Reagan resembles Rambo and

Rambo resembles Reagan. A film like
this would never be shown in Cuba. Any
film that promotes or glorifies war, that is
racist, sexist, pornographic or against
public dignity will not be shown.
TRIB: Much of the Toronto festival fo-
cused onthe relations between the sexes.
Why?

ROJAS: The most complex element, the
one with the most twisted historical
background, is that phenomenon known
as machismo. As film carries on a
dialogue with the public and reflects what
is happening in society, machisimo, be-
comes a prominent theme in our films.
While the situation is improving among
young people, there are still problems.
This is a problem which will be with us
for a long time.

TRIB: In socialist countries considera-
ble attention is paid to culture ‘‘setting a
good example”’ for people. Yet there is
also a role for culture to expose and
criticize. How do you see the two
related?
ROJAS: I believe that didactic cinema,
cinema that tries to set a good example is
paternalistic and counterproductive. I
really don’t think it is the way to make
films within a revolution. A film should
never be a lesson but should provoke
people to think and debate. The impor-
tant issue is not to have the characters
learn; but to have the spectators learn.
Films which are critical and self-
critical are what is demanded by the rev-
olutionary process. It makes us look
deeper and become more responsible.

28 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, APRIL 30, 1986

filmmakers in revo ee cinema, He was interviewed for the Foibune hy -

This doesn’t mean criticism for its own
sake but the kind of examinations which
will help things move forward.

TRIB: The media here says there is no
freedom of expression in socialist coun-
tries. Do you feel you have personal
freedom to do your work?

ROJAS: There is freedom, but within
this there are two points to consider. The
first I dealt with earlier; we’re forced
within our liberty to be critical and self-
critical. The second point is we live 90
miles from the U.S. We have been per-
manently blockaded and the U.S. has
always taken an aggressive stance:
against us.

These have to be examined together. It
is not enough to stress the absolute free-
dom of being critical. The cinema must
also be anti-imperialist, otherwise it be-
comes a weapon to use against us.

Cuban director Gutierrez Alea receives first prize for his film Up to a Point at the In
national Festival of New Latin American Film. Alea and Rojas are part of anew gene”
of Cuban filmmakers, ready to tackle any subject from machismo to imperialis™ —

Personally I feel very free, because I
am doing something that is necessary
and useful. My opinion as an artist is
taken into account.

TRIB: What is the structure of Giiban
cinema; how is it determined what films
are made?

ROJAS: A director presents a proposal
to the film institute where it is reviewed
by a board of his colleagues. If this board
disapproves an appeal can be launched
with a higherbody. Most films are reject-
ed not because of their ideology, but for

aesthetical reasons. Bad films shoul
be made.

TRIB: Your documentary on Belafom
why did you make it?

ROJAS: When I was asked to maké
documentary I didn’t even knoW a
Belafonte was. I started to know him™
made the film. There was no script.

I did was offer him a modest platfo
speak from What Belafonte said ®
artist and what I selected as a dif
was a reflection of the role of the arti
society; a duet between the two ®

Cockburn growing strong

Bruce Cockbum
World of Wonders
1985 High Romance Music

you've got covert action
prejudice to extremes
you've got primitive cunning
and high tech means
The past year has been exciting for
Cockburn, in and outside the recording
studio. He’s travelled through Central
and South America, has done benefit
concerts for the Haida nation, spoken
out against apartheid and has taken on
the fight against free trade.

This works for Cockburn in_ his
music. His outside concerns are re-—
flected in his songs. An artist without
commitment is an artist that plays into _
self-indulgence and pretension.

Cockburn mixes his various music
styles with the potent imagery of his
lyrics.

Something moves in the still dark hours
Sunday ina shanty town

eyelids open two by two

but not a single light goes on

World of Wonder continues the tradi-
tion of his previous Stealing Fire album;
however the focus has changed. In Steal-
ing Fire most of the songs centred on the
struggle against repression in Latin
America. The theme is broader in World
of Wonders; it is more complex simply

WRI

and angry

because it encompasses more. And
album title fits the inside perfectly:
Side two reflects the beauty Cock®
perceives, yet on the flip there is a
of danger; the ugliness and inhuma!!
responsible artist cannot ignore. _

North south east west

kill the best and buy the rest —

it's just spend a buck to make a bitck
you don't really give a fiving fuck
about the people in misery

World of Wonders is a progressi0l
Cockburn; a positive developme?" |
musically and lyrically. His concer
humanity i is heart-felt. If there’s 2 ait
ness it is that he has not yet address™
situation of working people in his ©
country. This may change. i
As is, Cockburn represents whl
Canadian music scene has the pote
to become. The tragedy is that for® i
Cockburn there are a hundred °
progressive Canadian artists with"
dustry support.

au

MAY DAY AND THE MARX SIS-
TERS. Hazel Wigdor, distributed
by Progress Books, Toronto,
1986, 48 pp, paperback, $3.00,

more copies.

In sexist, class divided Victo-
rian England, in a poverty stric-
ken society, in a poverty stricken
home, the daughters of Karl Marx
grew to womanhood. The
dynamics that enabled these three
sisters to each make a unique
contribution to betterment of
conditions for workers around the
world is revealed in this concise

~ booklet. .

The Marx sisters did much to
implement the theoretical work of
their father as well as contributing

20 per cent discounted for five or ©

The women beside Karl Marx

extensively to the translation and
interpretation of his work.

Jenny, the oldest sister,
worked for the Irish and Polish
causes. Her articles pushed Prime
Minister Gladstone into action.
Laura, the middle sister, survived
a life-and-death struggle through
the days of the Paris Commune.
She also gave immense support to
her husband, Paul Lafargue,
leader and later Deputy, of the
French Workers’ Party. She ex-
celled at Marxist translation, and
was able to bring her father’s vig-
orous style to the French readers
of the Communist Manifesto and
other classics.

Eleanor, ten years younger
than her sisters was on a speaking
tour of the United States. follow-
ing the Haymarket labor uprising

and massacre of 1886. The follow-
ing year, she was a delegate and
made the British Report at the
congress of the International
Workingmen’s Association. The
main resolution at this Congress
called on unions of all countries to
mark May Day for the first time.

This compelling booklet fo-
cuses on the three sisters’ contri-
butions to alleviating the worker's
load in the 19th century. It also
contains two articles by Eleanor:
one on the life of her father and
one on his theory of value:

Hazel Wigdor has presented in
popular form the lives of three
women who helped make May ~
Day a celebration of international
solidarity for the eight-hour work-
ing day.

— Louise Fawcett