By Pascal Fletcher
HAVANA, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Cuban Film Institute head Alfredo Guevara said on Friday criticism of some of the country's films by President Fidel Castro had struck to the core but he believed the president had been badly informed.
In a seven-and-a-half-hour speech on Tuesday night, Castro criticized some films made in Cuba "with the resources of the (Cuban) Revolution and of the people.''
He said the films were unpatriotic and counter- revolutionary because they made light of hardships experienced by Cubans during the recent economic crisis on the communist- ruled island.
Castro, without mentioning names, made clear he was referring to films like "Guantanamera,'' an internationally successful 1995 production by the late Cuban director Tomas Gutierrez Alea, which presented a mordantly funny vision of life in recession-hit Cuba in the 1990s.
Asked about the president's comments, Guevara, whose institute was involved in the production and promotion of the films, said in a statement read at a news conference in Havana:
"My soul is torn ... (but I am) firmer than ever in my revolutionary socialist convictions.''
Guevara, who said he had been close to Castro since his youth, said he and other directors and artists in the film institute were sure information about the films "had not reached the commander-in-chief (Fidel Castro) in a correct fashion.''
Citing Castro's "passion for justice,'' he added he was confident the matter would be cleared up.
Guevara said he and other institute members "respected, admired, obeyed and followed ... the Chief of the Revolution, 'Comandante' Fidel Castro.''
He said he did not want to become a subject of controversy or "morbid speculation,'' so he and the institute would say no more about the subject. "We opt to remain silent from this moment on.''
His words were an unusual public response by a leading Cuban figure to criticism from Castro.
It was not clear how the controversy might affect production at the film institute, whose international image was boosted by films like "Guantanamera.'' The script describes the trials and tribulations of a group of Cubans taking a corpse from one end of the island to another.
Gutierrez Alea directed "Strawberry and Chocolate'' (''Fresa y Chocolate'') in 1993, a moving but comic study of intolerance towards homosexuals in Cuba, which was a huge success on the island and abroad.
The Cuban director, who was known to most Cubans as "Titon,'' died from lung cancer in 1996, aged 67. REUTERS
21:35 02-27-98