Photo Series: Havana’s Cinemas No Longer Show Movies… Nor the ‘Dead Princelings’

Not even Yara, formerly one of the city’s most iconic cinemas, can be considered on the same level as any movie theater in Europe or the U.S.

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 12 October 2024

1/10 Only in a city as film-obsessed as Havana was in the 1950s could so many movie theaters both compete and coexist. “When we were kids,” Cuban novelist Guillermo Cabrera Infante recalled, “my mother would ask my brother and me if we’d rather go to the movies or eat. ’Cinema or sardines?’ is how she would put it. We never chose sardines. You can survive without sardines but never without cinema.” Of that world, the inspiration for his best novels, only ruins remain. / 14ymedio
2/10 Fidel Castro held up culture as one of his revolution’s greatest achievements, ignoring previous efforts such as the Cinemateca de Cuba and the Nuestro Tiempo Cultural Society. Nevertheless, the regime has chosen to let cinematic icons such as the Payret — an old theater now languishing in the heart of Havana — die. In response to a rumor that GAESA would build a hotel on its site, the Havana Historian Eusebio Leal promised in 2019 that the cinema would survive. It remains covered in scaffolding. / 14ymedio
3/10 According to Cabrera Infante, true Havana movie buffs thought nothing of “going to faraway places like Batabanó or El Cotorro to watch a film that they had been hoping to see for a long time.” Now, with no projectors, furniture or equipment, these more remote, smaller theaters – like the one on Calzada de Luyanó, notable for its elliptical barrel-vaulted roof – have been completely abandoned. / 14ymedio
4/10 In addition to its unique architectural features, each theater was defined by its calligraphic signage. Illuminated in neon, cinemas such as the Atlas gave form to the Havana night. In addition to having lost their letters, the facades now have to be propped up while their interiors often house entire families, a makeshift effort to address the city’s housing shortage / 14ymedio
5/10 The deterioration happened slowly over the decades. Once public and family-friendly places, many theaters have become squalid dens and meeting places for people of a very different sort. Although amorous escapades were part of the mythology of Cuban cinema – it was the theme of Cabrera Infante’s novel “Havana for a Dead Princeling*” – the bathrooms and dark corners of places like Actualidades now have reputations as dangerous, no-go zones. / 14ymedio
6/10 Movie theaters in Havana’s Vedado district have had better luck. But not even here are good films being shown. The iconic Riviera cinema was recently swamped by a wave of Russian films, part of a festival that was more about diplomatic opportunism than culture. To make up for the lack of public interest, Havana’s military schools transported dozens of cadets to some of the screenings. One was a documentary, “Barbarroja,” (Redbeard) about Manuel Piñero, founder of Cuban State Security. / 14ymedio
7/10 Cinema and politics go hand in hand in Cuba. The reopening of another legendary theater, the Chaplin, had to wait until Fidel Castro’s 98th birthday. Only then was the public able to return to their seats. But they had to sit through screenings of two documentaries — “In the Name of Hope” and “Moments with Fidel’” – directed by Rebeca Chavez, a filmmaker with close ties to the political police. / 14ymedio
8/10 Filmmakers who are not aligned with the government have left Cuba. Exile is doubly tragic for them. By leaving the island behind, they give up both their subject and their setting. “Archipiélago Fílmico,” a recent exhibition in Mexico of independent Cuban cinema, tries to fill these gaps. But the need for the filmmakers to return – one of the demands of the independent Assembly of Cuban Filmmakers – is increasingly urgent in order to save Cuban cinema. / 14ymedio
The Cuban public’s exposure to international cinema depends on foreign embassies, which organize events and festivals. Moviegoers desperately seek out these screenings, which provide them with a bit of fresh air and an updated view of the world. But these events are held in spaces without air conditioning, without popcorn or drinks – two mainstays of the movie-going experience – and with very little security. As in the past, undesirables, noisy attendees and hecklers continue to proliferate. / 14ymedio
10/10 When the Latin-American Film Festival or the Festival of French Cinema are running, many Cubans show up at the ticket booth asking about the “billboard” and the even more important “passport,”which will allow them to attend several events for a single price. The little card is coveted by cinephiles and non-cinephiles alike. After all, going to the cinema allows them to escape the harsh reality of the streets for awhile, no matter how shabby and unsafe the theaters might be when the lights go out.

*Translator’s note: The title contains the author’s maternal last name, Infante, which in Spanish can mean either “child” or “young prince”. It is also a pun on the title of Maurice Ravel’s “Pavane for a Dead Princess.”

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