The emergence of the New Latin American Film Festival, inaugurated in its first edition on December 3, 1979, was one of the essential points of the cultural cartography of the Cuban Revolution, and had in Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz a founding pillar and defender of the idea over time.
More than an event, it would be better to speak of a project, of the communion of wills united in pursuit of the creation of the structure that would endorse the cultural values, the audiovisual yearnings, the expressive interests of this region that had been neglected or distorted by the guidelines of the hegemonic discourse.
The Festival would be the support for the amplification of the voices from Bravo to Patagonia, bearers of a truth of centuries and of the present.
This truth was established in the heat of the wars for national liberation against colonial and imperial domination, the forging of identities, the emergence of high-impact film movements in our geographic space, the consolidation of Icaic and its magnum opus, and the desire of regional filmmakers to shoot a telluric, indigenous, vital, free and independent cinema, independent of the axes of the Hollywood canon.
It seemed like a dream, but it became a reality, as Alfredo Guevara said in the first line of his inaugural speech at the Latin American meeting 45 years ago. In that historic document, which many forgetful and naive people should read, the Cuban intellectual argued concepts of deep resonance.
He made such lucid reflections: "We are not dispossessed or miserable peoples. Our material wealth is so great that the most brutal forms of robbery, plundering and swindling have not been able to exhaust it. We are heirs of cultures that created so much beauty and poetry, so much science and so much consciousness, that their fruits cannot be destroyed. But imperialism tries to confuse us and, as a good and diabolically efficient rascal, it never loses a minute, a resource or a breach (...) it resorts to new forms of ignorance and wisdom, combining them until they become poison."
A work of cultural, ideological and political meaning -as every work is, even the least apparent-, the New Latin American Film Festival represented the reaffirmation of a sign, a territory of emancipating dignity. It became a breath of fresh air in the encouragement and promotion of the audiovisual reality of Our America. It was the Festival longed for decades by our filmmakers.
None of the ideals of the event have been abandoned. Icaic's current management and those involved in its conception not only have it clear in the development of its guiding line, but also make a huge effort to vivify and breathe life into this unique festival that we will not lose, despite the complexities of the current scenario and intensification of the blockade against Cuba.
In a few hours, the screens of our cinemas will be bathed in America, in an inclusive program of several of the fundamental titles of the region throughout the year, as well as samples that will gather part of the most inspired creation of the rest of the world in 2024. In its 45th year, the Festival breathes, lives, maintains its vocation, continues to be joy and light.
