14ymedio, Havana, 25 December 2015 — Last July Juan Carlos Cremata’s play Exit the King (also translated in English as: The King is Dying) was censored. A few weeks later Cremata’s contract as a theater director was cancelled and the cultural institutions accused him of making statements to the independent press. His fiercest critics claim that behind his version of Eugene Ionesco’s work was hidden a bitter criticism of Fidel Castro, while the director appealed to artistic freedom and the right of free expression.
The “Cremata case” has exposed not only the intolerance of Cuba’s cultural institutions, but also the complicit silence of many of the island’s intellectuals. However, the group of filmmakers pushing for a new Film Law, has expressed solidarity with the artist, who was born in 1961 and won the Coral Award for his film Nada, among other important awards.
Cremata has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money independently to produce his next films, including a documentary about the censorship he has suffered and the smear campaign against him.
