14ymedio, Luz Escobar, 9 April 2018 — After the controversy arising from the exclusion of Yimit Ramirez’s film I Want To Make A Movie from the Young Filmmakers Exhibition, on Sunday Ramirez won the prize for the best fictional film for his short Eternal Glory, a work that reflects on the historical myths in a totalitarian society.
The short, starring the actors Lynn Cruz and Mario Guerra (who play the characters Haydée and Julián), addresses the sanctification of heroes, which is the same subject that led the censorship of Ramirez’s feature film, which the authorities considered “disrespectful of José Martí.”
Yimit Ramirez’s work has been at the center of the debates and comments in this year’s Young Filmmakers Exhibition, an event focused on promoting film creation among young people under the age of 35. In recent years the event has been marked by several scandalous episodes of censorship and exclusion.
The Exhibition awarded the prize for Best Documentary to two films “on equal terms”: The Dogs of Amundsen, by Rafael Ramírez, which also won for Best Director and the Best Original Music, and Music of the Spheres, by director Marcel Beltrán.
The mentions in that category were awarded to the directors Daniela Muñoz for What Remedy? The Parranda, and Adriana Castellanos for Two Islands.
The Special Jury Prize went to Alejandro Alonso for his documentary work The Project, which is a nod to “cinema within cinema.” The peculiar script, through pure photography and without a single word of dialogue, narrates a story that mixes fiction and reality and begins when the young director tries to film inside high schools and boarding schools in the countryside but the authorities deny him access.
With the thread of the prohibitions and obstacles that appear in the way of any film project, Alonso manages to convey the states of uneasiness, doubt and commitment that the filmmaker goes through in order to complete his dream.
With that same work, Lisandra López won for best script, while the Best Animation award recognized the work Mamiya CR7, by Danny de León and Eisman Sánchez.
Parallel to the exhibition, the Cuban Association of Cinematographic Press award went to The Dominant Species, by Carolina Fernández-Vega. The National Center for Sexual Education and the Oscar Arnulfo Romero Reflection and Solidarity Center awarded the work I Love Papuchi, by Rosa María Rodríguez; the International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños awarded its prize to Cosplayer, by Orlando Mora Cabrera; and the Faculty of Art of the Audiovisual Media chose The Project.
The documentary Two Islands, by Adriana F. Castellanos, also won an award from the Antonio Núñez Jiménez Foundation of Nature and Man, while the Sara GómezNetwork of Cuban Performers and Televisión Serrana awarded What Remedy? The Parranda. The Audience Award went to Human Thirst, by Danilo C. París and Gabriel Alemán, a film that also won the award for Best Photography.
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