LUCÍA TOOK A STROLL AROUND GIBARA AGAIN

Still immersed in the celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the city foundation, Gibara hosted, during April 16 to 22, one more edition of the festival created by mythical Humberto Solás who more than once filmed at locations of this coastal town to capture images of a creative universe that represent a good share of the best of Cuba´s cinema identity.

There is another reality ever since Humberto strived to turn this community, for a few days, into the focus of attention of the sets and cameras world and art in general, and to turn its inhabitants into the audience and managers of various artistic deeds. This is why its current president, actor and film director Perogurría — the main actor in Fresa y chocolate— strove to broaden the horizons of an event that stretched beyond the narrow limits of what may be considered “poor cinema”, and shot it to publicity with a new label: Festival Internacional de Cine de Gibara (Gibara´s International Cinema Festival.)

Its organizers —with tireless Rafael Rosales in charge—, and not forgetting the artistic assumptions for which Solás fought, gathered a group of creators around them from various artistic expressions that champion for revolutionary art in the fullest meaning of the word, and who delivered their talent for Gibara people during those days. Any festival around the world would envy the presence of singersongwriters such as Pablo Milanés, Pancho Céspedes, Kelvis Ochoa, Issac Delgado, David Torrens, David Blanco y Athanai who, added to actors Imanol Arias, Victoria Abril —Spain was the honor guest of the Festival— and Benicio del Toro, as well as Cubans Mario Balmaseda and Mario Limonta, who were paid a special homage, made a far from insignificant capital of the world art out of Gibara.

Now, we do have to find a way to enhance cinema in Cuba, the raison d´etre of an event that has got to spread beyond our borders and captured the attention of the eyes of the world. A crowded movie theater cannot be the monopoly of an opening and a closing show: and a half-empty movie is unforgivable for Gibara that, as the spot reads, deserves a festival such as this.