UNEAC denounces attack against Cuban culture

The Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC) denounced the organization of a film festival for the exhibition, in the United States, Europe and Latin America, of audiovisual productions that seek to rewrite history and distort Cuba’s realities, describing the event as still another attack against the country’s culture.

In a statement published on its website, UNEAC pointed out that the said festival is sponsored by the so-called Hannah Arendt International Institute of Artivism and will take place in paid locations in seven cities at the same time as the new International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana.

Here is the full text of UNEAC’s message:

“A new attack on Cuban culture has been launched: in paid locations in seven cities in the United States, Europe and Latin America, a film festival sponsored by the so-called Hannah Arendt International Institute of Artivism intends to exhibit a little more than a dozen audiovisual productions that seek to rewrite history and distort the realities of a nation, which in the midst of growing and sustained hostility from U.S. administrations and countless obstacles, defends its inalienable right to sovereignty, self-determination and independence.

“Behind these actions lurk spurious interests, funded by agencies and foundations that kowtow to Washington and subsidiaries at its service in Southern Florida or fully identified with them elsewhere. Artistic creation is not at the center of the selection, but the media campaigns against the Revolution and the presumption that such productions are the only possible and attainable tendency within the wide conceptual and aesthetic spectrum of Cuba’s current audiovisual industry.

“It is no coincidence that the dates of this so-called event coincide with the announcement of a new International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana, a space of legitimate confluence of the best works of regional filmmakers committed to an anti-imperialist cinema and to the fate of the most disadvantaged; and a few days after the successful meeting The Nation and Emigration, which brought closer than ever before the patriotic ideals of Cubans beyond their places of residence.

“We denounce the maneuver orchestrated by those willing to undermine the pillars of the nation as we reassert our commitment to the most authentic artistic expressions.