By IAN FENTON
The United States should lift its blockade against Cuba, the Cuban Ambassador to Australia said at a function marking the close of the first Cuban film festival of Canberra at the ANU .
Ambassador Ableardo Curbelo Padron said, “Despite Barack Obama’s promises this 14th of September he has signed to renew the blockade against Cuba. There is no moral, legal or political justification behind this law.”
The festival closed last Thursday (1 October) with the showing of the film “Nada”
(Nothing More).
The film captivated the audience of around 50 with its humour, charm and insight into Cuban life.
Ambassador Padron
described Cuban cinema as both a tradition of the revolution and a witness of its political process and said the films of the festival including “Benny” the story of an alcoholic musician and ‘”Memories of Underdevelopment” were demonstrations of the “free use of creative rights” which exists in Cuba.
Speaking through an interpreter, he made mention of an Australian and New Zealand owned bank which last month was fined in the US for conducting business with Cuba.
“Cuba will again take the opportunity to present a resolution at the United Nations to lift the blockade,” he said.
The festival marks the 50th anniversary of both the Cuban revolution and the creation of the Cuban Film Institute and one year since the arrival of the first ever Cuban Ambassador to Australia.
It was hosted in conjunction with the Australian National Centre for Latin American Studies (ANCLAS) and the Australian Cuban Friendship Society.
The feature film, directed by Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti, told the story of Carla, who has parents in Miami and is bored in her Havana post office job where she discovers a talent for writing by stealing letters and rewriting them in order to brighten the lives of their addressees.
Illegal? Maybe, but with beautiful results her actions and their consequences tell a tale which is charming and distinctly Cuban, dealing paradoxically with the earnest will of the people to change things for the better in Cuba and their frustrations with the country and their desires to leave.
Another Latin American film festival, the Peruvian Film Festival hosted by the Embassy of Peru and the University of Canberra, will continue for two more Thursday showings.
