By Andrew Paxman
Reuters Dec. 14
HAVANA (Variety) - Cuba opened its arms to Americans and Americans responded.
Curious, intrepid and enthusiastic, the U.S. industryites who trekked to the Havana Film Festival Dec. 1-11 found eager audiences, top-quality local pictures, some political intrigue and a fiercely independent film community.
Filmmakers Francis Ford Coppola, the Coen brothers, Terry Gilliam, Jim Sheridan, Constantin Costa-Gavras and Ettore Scola brought gravity and A-list cachet to the festival, adding to the feeling that Cuba's top cultural showcase is getting back to its glory days of the late 1980s.
The festival was, in most respects, up over last year's -- in number (and quality) of films shown, local industry activity and U.S. attendance, which nearly doubled to around 200 among the 1,500 registered foreigners.
Visitors have been overwhelmed by Havana's enthusiastic and knowledgeable filmgoers, who line up for hours to cram into the city's 22 movie palaces, paying the U.S. equivalent of 10 cents a seat (which is, nonetheless, 20% of the daily wage).
Last year's edition -- including a subsequent week when selections continued to play nationwide -- drew 800,000 spectators, festival chief Ivan Giroud said, and he expected at least a similar number this year.
If that sounds inflated, consider the case of director Randa Haines. The premiere of her picture ``Dance With Me'' drew 3,000. Unfortunately, it was playing in a 1,500-seat venue. But alert officials arranged a second showing at 2 a.m. and promised further screenings in the 5,000-seat Karl Marx Theater a few days later.
``Lots of people were crying. I was crying. There was so much love,'' says Haines, whose film tells of a Cuban coming to America and is full of music, dance and references to Cuban culture.
Locals, who get to see U.S. fare during the rest of the year only irregularly, eagerly flocked to all American pictures, though Gilliam's drug-intensive ``Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas'' seemed to baffle them.
``It shocked them into silence -- 'The ugly American has arrived!,''' admits Gilliam, who in addition to attending his premiere gave a talk at the local film school.
The film school is also hosting Coppola, a frequent visitor who last weekend led a workshop and cooked an Italian banquet for the students. Coppola, who brought in caseloads of pasta and wine, arrived later than expected Dec. 10, having been denied U.S. permission to fly his private plane to the island.
Some Latino directors were disappointed at a lack of film buyers, but co-production talks, notably involving Cuban, Spanish and French producers, proceeded at a healthy clip.
As far as kudos, local picture ``La Vida es Silbar'' by Fernando Perez nabbed top honors.
The festival also had its share of politics: Walter Salles' ``Central Station'' was tipped for best picture, but when Perez was anointed, some suspected the jury was standing up for ``Silbar,'' which had received a thunderously negative review in communist party daily Granma, despite public and critical enthusiasm.
A beautifully shot cinematic poem about emotional dysfunction and reconciliation, ``Silbar'' is loaded with comical jabs at the expense of the Castro government, and is evidence that Cuban film continues to preserve its autonomy.
One American also took a prize: David Riker's Spanish-lingo ``La Ciudad'' (The City) won for best non-Latino film about a Latino subject.
Reuters/Variety
08:02 12-14-98
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited