When Miguel Coyula, a Cuban film maker, needed to raise funds to purchase some equipment to start filming his movie in Cuba, he decided to use Indiegogo to raise the money. He was set to start filming his science fiction move, “Blue Heart,” when Indiegogo suspended the campaign and froze the money. Due to the United States’ economic embargo, Coyula could not film his movie, as it would be a direct violation of the embargo. While there have been lots of changes in Cuban filmmaking in recent years, “[w]hat hasn’t changed, however, are the financial and legal restrictions that make transferring money to Cuba illegal without a special license from the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. Those restrictions also prevent Americans from investing in Cuban movies and prohibit Americans from making most films on the island.” “While the United States government dedicates millions of dollars each year to programs intended to promote civil society and democracy there, experts on Cuban film say the embargo is hindering the growth of a cinema that is increasingly independent of the state and often offers a raw reflection of Cuban life or pokes fun at the government. Movies like ‘Pablo’ (2012), by Yosmani Acosta, which deals with domestic violence, and ‘Chamaco’ (2010), by Juan Carlos Cremata, about male prostitution, explore subjects discussed on the street but rarely in the news media.”
Posted on: Mon, 07 Apr 2014 17:39:11 +0000
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