Cuban Faces of 2016 - Carlos Lechuga, Filmmaker

Cuban Faces of 2016: Carlos Lechuga, Filmmaker (b. Havana, 1983) / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 24 December 2016 – Cuban Faces of 2016: The
film Molasses (2013), director Carlos Lechuga's debut, garnered much
applause, but it was his second feature which placed him at the center
of public attention. The film Santa and Andrés was excluded from the
38th edition of the Havana Film Festival, for political reasons.

The film tells the story of a homosexual writer who, at the beginning of
the 1980s, is isolated from society in a remote spot on the east of the
island. The authorities there assign a peasant woman to watch over him,
but after a time, an unforeseen relationship between them is born.

Lechuga spoke out against the censorship of the film from his Facebook
profile and also raising their voices were the directors Jonathan
Jakubowicz, Fernando Perez, Enrique Alvarez and film critic Dean Luis
Reyes, among others. However, the president of the Cuban Institute of
Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), Roberto Smith, claimed a
"question of principles" to prevent its distribution.

Santa and Andrés has been exhibited in prestigious festivals such as
Toronto, San Sebastian and Chicago, but in the native country of its
director it will have to circulate by alternative methods through the
popular "weekly packet" in which Cubans receive much of their entertainment.

Source: Cuban Faces of 2016: Carlos Lechuga, Filmmaker (b. Havana, 1983)
/ 14ymedio – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuban-faces-of-2016-carlos-lechuga-filmmaker-b-havana-1983-14ymedio/