The 25th International Book Fair Cuba 2016 which will be inaugurated at the San Carlos de la Cabaña Fortress, February 11, dedicated this year to the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, features among its varied cultural offerings a jam-packed artistic program kicking off on the eleventh with a performance by Malena Muyala from Río de la Plata, accompanied by Gustavo Montemurro, percussionist Daniel “Tatica” Márquez and Cuban folklore groups.
The details of the Uruguayan cultural program were presented in a press conference led by Daniel Machín, representative of Uruguay’s Ministry of Education and Culture, together with Zuleica Romay Guerra, president of the Cuban Book Institute (ICL), Eduardo Fernández Collado, director of the Fair and Edel Morales, the ICL’s director of International Relations.
The country’s pavilion bearing the name of famous author Eduardo Galeano, will house photographic and illustration expositions, while the exhibition entitled Un simple ciudadano José Artigas, dedicated to Uruguay’s national hero will be inaugurated on February 11, in the Cabaña’s Nicolás Guillén Hall.
The country’s theatrical representations will have a strong presence in Havana with performances of works such as Núremberg (monologue), by Santiago Sanguinetti; Zapatos andaluces (monologue), by María Dodera; and Ostia, by Sergio Blanco, all in the Raquel Revuelta Theatre; while Kassandra, also by Sergio Blanco, will be presented in the Bertolt Brecht. Cuban theater will also join in the celebration with a performance of Cimarrón de palabras byTeatro Cimarrón, in homage to Rogelio Martínez Furé, one of the intellectuals to whom the Fair is dedicated.
A Uruguayan film series will kick-off in Multicine Infanta on Tuesday the 16th, with La demora, by director Rodrigo Plá and staring Roxana Blanco, while Jamás leí a Onetti a documentary byPablo Dotta will be shown on the 17th; Miss Tacuarembó, by Martín Sastre on the 18th;Ricardo Casas’ El Padre de Gardel, on the19th; and Mal día para pescar, by Álvaro Brechner on Saturday 20th.
In addition to the customary concerts held before the traditional cannon firing ceremony at the Cabaña Fortress, Uruguayan trova singers Fernando Cabrera and Daniel Viglietti will offer two shows on February 14 in the Casa de las Américas Che Guevara Hall; the former at 5pm, and the latter in homage to Mario Benedetti at 7pm.
Together with the other artistic expressions featured this year, principally literature, Havana will experience days of tango, milongas,candombes and waltzes turning the 25th International Book Fair into a sonorous cultural encounter between two nations.
