In the facilities of the Russian Film Fund (Gosfilmofond) more than 75 Cuban films in 35 mm format are preserved in good condition, some of which are no longer in Cuba.
Alexis Triana, president of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (Icaic), who is part of a delegation visiting that country, headed by Alpidio Alonso Grau, Minister of Culture, together with Fernando Rojas, advisor to the Minister; Gladys González, vice-president of Icaic, among other colleagues, shared this on his social networks.
At the institution's central archive facilities, where restoration and digitalization work is being carried out, Alonso Grau thanked "for having preserved part of our film heritage, and for taking care of the production of an avant-garde cinema such as the Russian one".
Dmitry Davidenko, director of the Department of Cinematography of the Russian Ministry of Culture, said that "we are facing a new dawn in our cinematography thanks to the American sanctions. Today in Russian cinemas you can see up to more than 70% of domestic cinematography, and our filmmakers were confident in this possibility. We are going to make films together. We are interested in co-producing together with you."
The general director of Gosfilmofond, Denis Alexandrovich Aksionov, added that they are open to all Icaic's cooperation. "And we will lovingly restore several films by Julio Garcia Espinosa, among other very important ones, whose works we preserve."
According to the note shared on Icaic's social networks, the Cuban head of Culture reiterated the aspiration "for our working relationship to be renewed. We would like to raise our working relations to the level of our political relations. And starting with Cuban cinema is very relevant. We would like the new Cuban cinema to be known here, with its relevant directors, screenwriters, actors, extraordinary technicians..."
"We are determined to restart a new stage of work with Russia, in the midst of the transformations that Icaic is undergoing, and Cuban cinema itself, in which state and non-state production coexist, and new forms of film management and production are being articulated."
The Film Fund -founded in 1935- treasures more than 100,000 films from all over the world, and receives several hundred new ones every month.
