Perverse Uchronia

Perverse Uchronia* / Regina Coyula

Miguel Coyula: So after editing it in Miami [the novel Red Sea, Blue
Sea] I sent it out to Union Publishers and also ICAIC Publishers, but
this is already four years ago.

The universe of this novel, post-apocalyptic, with genetic manipulation,
strongly influenced by the science-fiction anime, later became Red
Cockroaches and right now Blue Heart.

…In Blue Heart, Fidel Castro has undertaken an experiment in genetic
engineering to construct the New Man and to save his life's work, his
project. These experiments result in failures: they result in
individuals with psychological disorders, but very intelligent, which,
once they are rejected by the regime that created them, they unite to
destroy it. In this alternative future the system is very similar to
that in China, which continues to say it is socialist, but behind the
facade is brutal capitalism.

[I have been filming Blue Heart for] five years. What I don't have in
money I put in in time: hours in front of the computer to virtually
build the universe that could never be built in physical reality, in
ordinary filming without permits and extras.

Every time I have approached institutions to ask for money they have
rejected me. The people who have become patrons of my films have
approached me on their own. This is important, because when it is you
who knocks on the doors, you have to be willing to accept compromises.

It is very difficult for me to sell a project because the script is
constantly changing. The script is no more than a map, a skeleton
without flesh, and this skeleton could change itself into an unknown
creatures because, being a long process, I end up using mutations of
everything that happens around me to integrate that into the narrative.
It's about filming with the same freedom as a writer have, having an
idea and writing.

…more and more I choose not to go out into the street: I record the
actors against a green screen

In the street, once you set up a tripod you have ten or fifteen minutes
of impunity before they come to interrogate you. You may have more time,
but you have to have studied the location and rehearsed the actors to be
able to film very quickly. It's the only want to have any certainty when
you are filming without permission. And if the location is very
complicated you have to resort to digitally unifying the different
scenes and actors. The film crew is just me and my partner, Lynn Cruz.
So because I don't have the money I have to put in the time.

*From Wikipedia: Uchronia refers to a hypothetical or fictional
time-period of our world, in contrast to altogether fictional lands or
worlds. A concept similar to alternate history but different in the
manner that uchronic times are not easily defined (mainly placed in some
distant or unspecified point before current times), sometimes
reminiscent of a constructed world.

Site Manager's note: Once all the fragments of this interview are
translated (by different volunteers) we will unite them in order, in a
single post.

Source: Perverse Uchronia* / Regina Coyula – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/perverse-uchronia-regina-coyula/