Between Displacement and Nostalgia: Conflicted Memories of Cuba October 23, 2010

One of the first international successes of Third Cinema, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s classic film was banned in the United States for five years, a victim of the embargo on post-revolutionary Cuba. Memories of Underdevelopment imaginatively transposes Edmundo Desnoes’ eponymous stream-of-consciousness novel into a modernist cinematic space. Desnoes’ ambivalence toward the new regime grew, and in 1979 he defected to the United States, where he wrote Memories of Overdevelopment, a companion piece to his earlier work. His writings in turn inspired young Cuban filmmaker Miguel Coyula, who uses the digital-media tools of his generation to comment on the issues that have fascinated Desnoes: the hunger to embrace a revolutionary cause versus political disillusionment, feeling displaced in one’s own country and in permanent exile in the country of one’s choice, the protracted conflict between underdevelopment and overdevelopment, and, last but not least, acerbic sexual politics. Desnoes will share his point of view on both films, creating a dialogue between Gutiérrez Alea’s masterpiece and Coyula’s multilayered visual experiment.

Official Website: http://www.redcat.org/event/between-displacement-and-nostalgia