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Invited by CADAL, filmmaker Miguel Coyula, director of Memorias del desarrollo took part in the Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival BAFICI 23, introducing his fiction feature film Corazón Azul and speaking at the panel "Cuba and the challenges of independent cinema".
Corazón Azul had its Argentine premiere on Wednesday, April 20 at the head office of the Alliance Française of Buenos Aires. The film was introduced by BAFICI director Javier Porta Fouz, who said it was the first time the festival included two independent Cuban films, and a panel on the challenges of independent cinema on the island. After the screening, Miguel Coyula answered questions from the audience that focused on technical specificities of editing and post-production, as well as on the general conditions of freedom of expression on the island and the impact on independent filmmaking.
On Friday, April 22, the second screening was held in Room 1 of the San Martin Cultural Center with almost full capacity. On this occasion, the film was introduced by journalist and programmer Sebastián Rosal. The screening was attended by cultural figures such as Argentine filmmaker Pablo Racioppi and journalist Silvia Mercado. On Saturday, April 23, Miguel Coyula met with Silvia Tissembaum and Régulo Pachano, general director and coordinator of the Colón Fábrica Project, sponsored by the Buenos Aires city government. It was possible to visit the place, the exhibit, and learn about the details of the project both in its cultural and social dimensions.
On Sunday 24th, the third and last screening of Corazón Azul took place at the Lavalle Multiplex cinema with almost full capacity in a theater with more than 200 seats. Before the screening, the filmmaker met journalist and writer Norma Morandini, vice-president of CADAL, and journalist and film critic David Obarrio. After the screening, there was another round of questions, which highlighted the way in which Corazón Azul dialogues with other works of the fantastic genre, both in narrative and film.
The filmmaker also met Argentine actress Andrea Bonelli and casting director Norma Angeleri, with whom he discussed the political and film production conditions in Cuba.
On Tuesday, April 26, a meeting was held between the filmmaker and eight Argentine businessmen at the micro-cinema of the building where CADAL's headquarters are located. During the meeting, the filmmaker was able to discuss the production conditions of Corazón Azul after the isolation imposed on him and his partner, actress Lynn Cruz, as a result of the documentary film Nadie. The filmmaker also shared the short film based on the interrogation suffered by Javier Caso for sharing the production of both artists.
On Thursday, April 28, the panel "Cuba and the challenges of independent cinema" took place as part of BAFICI's activities, with the active presence of students from the Universidad del Cine, Argentine filmmakers and specialized journalists. The panel counted with the testimonies and reflections of the specialist in freedom of artistic expression, Diana Arévalo, the Cuban producer Diana Reyes and Miguel Coyula. From Friday, April 29 to Sunday, May 1, Miguel Coyula took part in the FANTASPOA Festival in Porto Alegre, where Corazón Azul had two performances as part of the festival's international competition. His presence in Porto Alegre allowed the filmmaker to exchange questions and reflections with the Brazilian audience.
From Friday, April 29 to Sunday, May 1, Miguel Coyula participated in the FANTASPOA Festival in Porto Alegre, where Corazón Azul had two performances within the framework of the festival's international competition. Participation in Porto Alegre allowed the filmmaker to exchange questions and reflections with the Brazilian public.
Miguel Coyula (Havana, March 31, 1977), is a Cuban film director, graduated from the International School of Film and Television (EICTV) in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. Miguel Coyula's debut feature film was Cucarachas Rojas Rojas, which he shot during a fellowship at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in New York. The review in Variety magazine describes it as "a triumph of technology in the hands of a visionary". His latest film is Memories of Development, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Edmundo Desnoes, also author of Memories of Underdevelopment. Coyula won a Guggenheim Fellowship also in New York in 2009 with this project, which premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and went on to win 20 awards at international festivals. The International Film Guide chose it as the best Cuban film of 2010 and describes it as one of the best Cuban films of all time. In 2017 he released Nadie, a documentary about the censored poet Rafael Alcides that was screened at MoMA in New York. His fourth feature film was Corazón Azul. He has always worked independently making the script, photography and editing of his films. He has given workshops at several American universities (Yale, Princeton, Tulane and Cornell, among others) where he has also screened his films. He was president of the jury of the 11th Young Filmmakers Festival in Havana. His films have been characterized by misfit protagonists in a brutal critique of capitalism, religion, the conservative morality of societies and the betrayal of the original socialist ideals of the Cuban revolution.
