New Media Workshop is the term to know. This course, cross-listed with Film and Hispanic studies, is what got the W&M into Cuba. The project works with Cuban Cinema Classics which is an organization that brings “Cuba’s award winning revolutionary documentaries” to Universities in America for purposes of subtitling in English.
Troy Davis, Swem Library’s Media Center Director and New Media Workshop Co-Teacher, explained that “the course involved subtitling old and new Cuban films, so that they could be more widely distributed. One recent film the students subtitled Zone of Silencia has already been picked up at international film festivals b/c of the subtitles. The point of the class was to explore the contours cuban filmmaking (historically) but also to address this ‘unique’ contemporary moment in Cuban audio-visual culture. [Cuban] filmmakers want to make films, but no longer have total govt. support to do it. But they make them anyway, by any means necessary.”
Prof. Ann Marie Stock co-teaches the course with Troy, and she has written a book that was key in setting up the course and documentary that will eventually be made. The book is called On Location in Cuba: Street Filmmaking during Times of Transition. In a review on ROROTOKO.com, it is explained that the book focuses on Cuba’s transformation in the early 1990′s after its loss of its “partner” the Soviet Union. “The lens of cinema—defined broadly to include film, video and audiovisual art—permits an analysis of this pivotal moment in the island’s history, this “special period” of accelerated change and great uncertainty.” Read the full review.
Below is a 2 part video about the New Media Workshop.
For the class, both Troy and Ann Marie travelled to Cuba for 3 whole weeks. Troy explained that, the trip “was focused on these ‘new’ filmmakers and how/why they make films without the promise of state funding. The trip consisted of attending a film festival of “new” and “young” filmmakers (the films were awesome!). additionally we interviewed new filmmakers ([and shot] over 60 hours of footage).” The co-teachers plan to “make a more comprehensive documentary about this time of transition.”
Troy mobile with a camera on the streets of Havana.
Below is a video Troy put together about the trip to Cuba.
I asked Troy what he felt about Cuban cinema, and he responded with this:
Cuban cinema is rich and varied. When you walk down a Havana street and see 5 or 6 cinemas in a 6 block radius, you know you are in a place that values filmmaking and cinema. Historically, Cuban cinema has worked in the service of ‘the revolution.’However, visiting the ICAIC while in Havana (the govt. funded filmmaking org), it was interesting to see how supportive the govt was of filmmaking and cultural activities in general. The filmmakers we interviewed were very passionate about filmmaking and have learned to do ALOT with VERY LITTLE. They are the emblems right now of low/no budget filmmaking and i think we can learn a lot from them. In fact, maybe there could be some sort of exchange/dialogue between w&m filmmakers and cubans????????
Capturing the filmmaking heart of Cuban cinema.
He then went on to explain how he was effected by this trip.
Well, first it boomeranged all the BS about Cuba [that] I was told. I went to a film festival, sponsored by the government, and I can say a fair number of the films would have been censored here in the U.S. The filmmakers I met were born after the revolution and one question i asked each of them was how has the ‘revolution’ impacted their filmmaking. They all lauded the “good things” of the revolution, universal health care, food rations, cultural emphases, a bad ass education system, but they were also eager to make stuff, of connecting with the world. The people in Cuba were so friendly, so giving, so curious about the U.S. I had a couple opps to talk about my experiences in West Baltimore for example, and this totally shocked my listeners. While in Havana, no one tried to pan handle, I saw no homeless people and everyone I met was a brainiac. Contrast this with West Baltimore and you get the picture.
Troy with Cuban filmmaker Fernando Perez.
And as for the future of the New Media Workshop course…
We got funding to teach another course, to continue the subtitling projects, to create a web site devoted to new filmmakers in Cuba, [and] to continue this documentary. We will visit Cuba again in December for another film festival, this time the biggest and most famous one in Cuba.
Just to get an idea of how cool of a course this has been for the College, understand that faculty of the University of Miami traveled to William and Mary to discuss collaboration on a Cuban Theatre Digital Archive. That’s right, a university in Miami went to Virginia for support in Cuban art!
Subtitled: Cuban Television
That’s cool stuff. Thanks for posting about it.