The head of the Cuban Film Institute resigns and is replaced by a new vice president
HAVANA, Jul 16 The Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC) will be directed by the newly appointed vice president Susana Molina,who will replace Ramón Samada after his resignation from the presidency of the organization, the Ministry of Culture (Mincult) reported this Sunday.
The decision to “release” the president of the cinematographic institution from his position, “based on his personal request”, was made known during a meeting of the ICAIC Board of Directors, according to a Mincult note published on its social networks.
Regarding the performance of Samada, who has been in charge of ICAIC since 2017, he adds that “at the meeting itself, recognition was expressed for the results of his work in recent years.”
Likewise, it indicates that the new acting president of the Institute was until now director of the International Film and Television School (Eictv), located in the town of San Antonio de los Baños, a responsibility that she carried out “with very positive results for that important center “.
The restructuring of the leadership of ICAIC takes place in the midst of the latest reactions in the union of Cuban filmmakers before the censorship suffered by the documentary “Havana de Fito”, directed by Juan Pin Vilar, and the subsequent broadcast of a version not final version of this piece on state television without the authorization of its director.
This situation generated his “disagreement” with the actions of the Cuban authorities and was manifested through an open letter of rejection signed by more than 600 professionals in the sector, including director Fernando Pérez, actors Jorge Perugorría and Luis Alberto García, and the former president of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana, Iván Giroud.
More than fifty union representatives have met with authorities from Mincult, ICAIC, the government and the Communist Party of Cuba (the only legal one) to address the controversy unleashed in mid-June and other issues such as their demand for a law on cinema to regulate the sector.
As a result of this conflict, the filmmakers grouped together in the independent Assembly of Cuban Filmmakers (ACC) and agreed to elect several of its members to act as representatives of this group, in order to dialogue with the Government on legislation and production.
The filmmakers integrated into the ACC agreed to create four working commissions, one dedicated to the issue of Censorship and Exclusion, which aspires to discuss with the Government this type of situation, and another three that will deal with production, cultural policies and the claim that a Cinema law is approved, which is not foreseen in the schedule of the legislature (2023-2028) of Parliament. EFE
