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The 60th anniversary of ICAIC will be celebrated throughout 2019
11March
News

The 60th anniversary of ICAIC will be celebrated throughout 2019

The Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its creation throughout 2019 with a vast and multiple program of presentations that includes in this month the national premiere of three films recently produced by that institution founded by Alfredo Guevara on March 24. of 1959.

The film Insumisas, directed in two hands by the Cuban filmmaker Fernando Pérez and the Swiss Laura Cazador, will begin to be shown in the country's premiere theaters starting on March 7; on the 20th at 3 o'clock in the afternoon at the 23 y 12 cinema, the audiovisual project El sueño y la vida (The Dream and Life), by Rafael Rey, will be released, covering the production of ICAIC, and the cardinal milestones of the institution's history, and the 22nd March at night at the Chaplin cinema will be a special screening of the documentary tribute to Julio García Espinosa and the Cuban cinema Retrato de un artista siempre adolescente, made by the filmmaker Manuel Herrera.

This day 22nd in the morning, the Gerard Philippe bookstore will be inaugurated, specialized in literature dedicated to audiovisual production at the 23 y 12 cinema, home of the Cinematheque of Cuba, and a new film set at the Animation Studios of the ICAIC .

Then, at three o'clock in the afternoon, the central ceremony for the 60th anniversary of the ICAIC will be held in the Chaplin room, where the National Film Prize will be presented, corresponding to this year 2019, to the cinematographer Livio Delgado, the sound engineer Jerónimo Labrada and producer Miguel Mendoza, who have been recognized for their decisive contribution to the realization of notable and recognized pieces of Cuban cinematography.

It coincides with this anniversary, the centenary of the birth of Santiago Álvarez, creator and founder of the ICAIC Latin American News; by the way, on the 8th, the date of his birth, the Santiago Álvarez in Memoriam Documentary Festival will begin in Santiago de Cuba and will run until March 12; On the 14th, room 4 of the Multicine Infanta will be renamed with the name of the filmmaker, and will be destined for the exhibition of Cuban documentaries and foreign filmmakers.

On this occasion a retrospective exhibition of the work of Santiago Álvarez will be inaugurated and the documentary Mi hermano Fidel (1977) and the ICAIC News number 142 will be screened, which testifies to the death of the Cuban musical idol Benny Moré.

About this edition of the ICAIC News, its creator, considered a pioneer in the realization of video clips, for his classic documentary, Now, expressed over the years:

"I'm forty years old when Fidel triumphs and I start making movies. I am surprised myself when I do the news dedicated to the singer Benny Moré when he dies. There I see for the first time the transfer of my feelings to the cinema. I see the language of the cinema serving to express myself. I see my reflected emotion ».

On the Saturday of the Book of March 16 will be the presentation of the title Santiago Álvarez, a filmmaker in Revolution, written by young journalists, students of the chair that at the University of Havana bears the name of the filmmaker and is dedicated to study, research and promotion of his filmography.

Coordinated by Iván Giroud, president of the International Festival of the New Latin American Cinema and Excelencias Cuba Award 2018, on the 14th at 2 pm in the Sala Saúl Yelín, of the Casa del Festival, the theoretical debate "Founding times" will take place , which purpose will be to reflect on the historical context in which the ICAIC arises; in addition, the panelists will tackle the film production of the 60s, the golden age of Cuban filmography; this action acquires great relevance due to its contribution to historical memory.

The members of this panel will be Dr. Graziella Pogolotti; the filmmakers Manolito Pérez Paredes and Rebeca Chávez, as well as the prominent Spanish intellectual Ignacio Ramonet, who will give various views on the importance of ICAIC for the history of Cuban cinema and its contribution in terms of thought and artistic creation to the national culture.

An extensive retrospective of the work of ICAIC, from its foundation and up to the present, will be offered to the public throughout 2019 in 23 y 12 room, since the celebration of this new anniversary of the prestigious institution will be a moment of indispensable tribute to all those filmmakers who have built the history of these 60 years.