Cuban Ambassador for cultural ties with Goa

NT NETWORK
Posted on 2009-02-18
PANAJI- The Ambassador of Cuba in India, Mr Miguel Angel Ramirez Ramos on Tuesday said that Cuba like Goa has strong Latin American flavour, and the Cuban locations would now be opened for shooting of Indian films.
Addressing a press conference at the Maquinez Palace on the eve of the Cuban Film Festival 2009, to be inaugurated in the city, in commemoration of the 50th year of the Cuban Revolution, Mr Ramos said that Cuban cinema is neither Hollywood nor Bollywood, but serious work of art depicting contradictions in society and looking at the life critically. “The Cuban movies provide relevance and display openness in the Cuban society, and such movies are not possible in a closed society,” he added.
Informing that Cuba, a small island nation of 10 million people, annually produces 20 movies not necessarily for locals, Mr Ramos stated that the Indo-Cuban co-productions can become a reality, with Cuban films shot in India, particularly in Goa and Indian films shot in Cuba. The Cuban Ambassador also stated that he could observe many similarities between Goa and Cuba, especially in terms of colonial buildings, architecture and the Havana sea drive, further stressing on establishing bilateral cultural ties between Cuba and Goa.
As regards the Cuban Film Festival, said Mr Ramos, the audiences would be able to watch Cuban history unfolding on the screen while attending the five-day festival.
The festival, which includes six feature films and same number of documentaries is jointly organised by the Cuban Embassy, Entertainment Society of Goa and Centre for Latin American Studies at the Goa University. The inaugural ceremony of the film festival will commence with the opening of a photo exhibition, at the Maquinez Palace Auditorium I, on February 18 attended by Mr Ramos, the Speaker of the Goa legislative assembly, Mr Pratapsingh Rane and the CEO of ESG, Mr Manoj Srivastava.
The opening film, ‘Clandestinos’ (1987) directed by Fernando Perez is open for invitees only, while the rest of the festival will be open for the members of the Cinephile Club of the ESG and those registering themselves for the festival with payment of Rs 100.
The feature films at the festival include ‘Clandestinos’, ‘A Successful Man’, ‘Benny’, ‘Death of a Bureaucrat’, ‘The Beauty of Alambra’, and ‘Lucia’, while the documentary films include ‘Challenge’, ‘Che: Love, Politics and Rebelry’, ‘The Merit is to Stay Alive’, ‘Facts, Not Just Words’, ‘From Son to Salsa’ and ‘Mountain of Light’
The films are shot in historical locations and portray cultural reality of Cuban society since 1959, their images, stories and wit reflects the hopes and dreams of innumerable people beyond Cuban borders.