Viva Cuba

Infobox Film
name = Viva Cuba

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writer = Juan Carlos Cremata
Manolito Rodriguez
starring = Luisa Maria Jiménez
Alberto Pujols
director = Juan Carlos Cremata
producer = Nicolas Duval-Adassovsky
music = Slim Pezin
Amaury Ramírez Malberti
editing = Angélica Salvador Alonso
Sylvie Landra
cinematography = Alejandro Pérez Gómez
distributor = Epicentre Films (France)
released = February, 2005 (Cuba) | runtime = 80 min.
language = Spanish
imdb_id = 0477916

Viva Cuba is a 2005, Spanish film from Cuba, directed by Juan Carlos Cremata and Iraida Malberti Cabrera, and written by Juan Carlos Cremata and Manolito Rodriguez. It became, the first ever Cuban film to be awarded, ‘Grand Prix Écrans Juniors’ for children’s cinema at 2005 Cannes Film Festival [ [http://www.humaniteinenglish.com/article375.html A Film Whose Shining Stars Are Children] L'Humanité, October 13 2006. ]

In Viva Cuba, a road movie fairy tale [ [http://fest06.sffs.org/films/film_details.php?id=97 Viva Cuba] San francisco Film Festival.] , Juan Carlos Cremata tackles localized Cuban problems, this time from the literal point of view of the country’s children. He lowers the camera to the eye level of the film’s protagonists, the darling Malú (Malú Tarrau Broche) and Jorgito (Jorgito Miló Ávila).

Background

Viva Cuba is a Cuban Independent film that explores emigration and the effects it can have on children who have to leave friends and extended families behind. Often youngsters are uprooted without being consulted and then must contend with their new surroundings. In a poignant moment, Malú and Jorgito discuss when they might reunite. The best they can hope for is to forget one another as their lives change and they face new pleasures and challenges. The viewer knows they are unlikely to ever see each other again, unless Malú’s mother can be granted re-entry, since Cuban law places restrictions on emigrants to return.Fact|date=August 2007 Migrants must request authorization from the government to leave the country, and if they declare to do so permanently, all their remaining properties are confiscated - unless its a shared house, and the goods on it.Fact|date=August 2007 To keep their property, the Cuban citizens must enter a system by which the person could stay eleven months of a year abroad but must spend a month in Cuba; also paying a fine of 50 USA dollars per month abroad to be granted re-entry.Fact|date=August 2007 If the migrant chooses to reside permanently abroad -Cuban law does not recognizes Cuban citizens acquiring another citizenry, nor accepts double citizenry-, the restrictions are more strict.Fact|date=August 2007 Thus, Cuban migratory law makes less likely that Malu's mother returns.Fact|date=August 2007

Plot

In a tale akin to Romeo and Juliet, the friendship between two children is threatened by their parents’ differences. Malú is from a family that was upper-class before the Revolution and remains well-to-do through remittances from relatives overseas, and her single mother (Larisa Vega Alamar) does not want her to play with Jorgito, as she thinks his background coarse and commonplace. Jorgito’s mother (Luisa María Jiménez Rodríguez), lower class and very loyal to the Revolution, places similar restrictions on her son, due to opposite sign prejudices. What neither woman recognizes is the immense strength of the bond between Malú and Jorgito. When the children learn that Malú’s mother is planning to leave Cuba, a decision which is not explored in depth as regarding to causes and appears to be hot headed. They decide to travel to the other side of the island to find Malú’s father and persuade him against signing the forms that would allow it.

Children's movies in Cuba

With the exception of Juan Padrón's animated features, Viva Cuba is the first Cuban live-action feature film addressed specifically to an audience of children and it succeeds in doing so based on its freshness of the screenplay and performances.

Reception

The film became a box office hit and went to many awards nationally and internationally as visited many film festival around the world, including 2005 Cannes Film Festival, where it won including the Grand Prix Ecrans Juniors Award, [ [http://www.hffny.com/web06/pressroom.htm Viva Cuba] 7th Annual Havana Film Festival in New York, 2006.] , plus awards in countries as diverse as Australia Italy, Guatemala, Germany, and France, and Taiwan [ [http://www.cinergia.org/2008/about_cinergia.html About Cinergia - Supported Projects] ] [ [http://havanajournal.com/culture/entry/viva_cuba_movie_by_juan_carlos_cremata/ Havana Journal Interview] January 30, 2006] . In 2008, it was shown all over Venezuela [ [http://www.cubanews.ain.cu/2008/0723cubavenezuela.htm Viva Cuba to Be Played in All Venezuelan Theaters] www.cubanews.ain.cu. July 23, 2008.]

Awards

It won 34 national and international awards in all [ [http://www.svspiritualfilmfestival.org/template.php?name=who 3. Michael Cortese] Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival , “Viva Cuba, has received 34 international awards including the Grand Prix Ecrans Junior from Cannes.”]
* Grand Prix Ecrans Juniors, Cannes, 2005
* Best Film award at the International Children Cinema and Television Festival in Taiwan. [ [http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B36311DE4-B98F-4E9F-9A4C-413E203588CE%7D&language=EN Viva Cuba to Be Exhibited in Venezuela] Prensa Latina, July 21, 2005.]
* Special Mention, Cinecircoli Giovanili Socioculturale. Giffoni International Film Festival, Italia, 2005.
* Premio en las categorías de dirección, guión, dirección de fotografía y edición. Premio Caracol. UNEAC, 2005.
* Premio especial otorgado por la "Unión de Pioneros José Martí". UNEAC, 2005.
* Premio de ayuda a la distribución. XIII Festival de Cine de españa y América Latina. Bélgica, 2005.
* Premio a la Mejor Edición. VIII Festival de Cine Infantil. Guayana, Venezuela, 2005.
* Premio a la Mejor Película. VIII Festival de Cine Infantil. Guayana, Venezuela, 2005.
* Reconocimiento Especial de la Agencia Internacional de Noticias Prensa Latina. 27 Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano. La Habana, Cuba, 2005.
* Premio del Oyente de la Emisora radio Progreso. 27 Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano. La Habana, Cuba, 2005.

References

External links

* [http://www.vivacubamovie.com/ Viva Cuba Official Website] Dead link|date=August 2008
*
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoRIckMpc4c "Viva Cuba" Excerpts]
* [http://www.granmai.cubasi.cu/ingles/2005/agosto/lun15/34cremata.html Juan Carlos Cremata's Viva Cuba] , an article from "Granma".