Posted by: ivetteromero | January 29, 2012

In Barbados Today: “The Three Chairs”

For those of you who are in Barbados: Holly Bynoe reminds us that Projects & Space’s “The Three Chairs” will be taking place at the Esplanade, on Bay Street in St. Michael, Barbados, starting at 3:30pm today (Sunday, January 29, 2012) and ending at 6:00pm.

People from all of the arts can participate in this project. Sheena Rose invites all artists—poet, musicians, singers, visual artists, dancers, performance artists—and the public at large to bring their ideas to this space to explore what comes out of this simple springboard: three chairs in a public place. She says, “I think it will be interesting to see what persons will do with these three chairs; would they act, sing, perform?”

 

For more information, you may contact projectspace.arts@gmail.com or see http://projectsandspace.tumblr.com/post/16579434031/the-three-chairs-29th-of-january-located-at-the

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Posted by: lisaparavisini | January 29, 2012

Soca Monarch Movie Coming

A report by Sean Nero from Trinidad’s Guardian.

Soca Monarch the movie is coming! Two decades of scintillating performances, public euphoria, backstage controversy and sponsorship challenges are among the fascinating elements to be depicted in the yet to be titled 90-minute feature film. Gregory Fernandez, special adviser to William Munro, executive chairman of Caribbean Prestige Foundation for the Performing Arts (CPF) revealed this in a Sunday Guardian interview. The film which coincides with the 20th anniversary of the outfits signature events—the Digicel International Power Soca Monarch and Play Whe Groovy Soca Monarch Competitions—promises to make public shocking behind the scenes developments which CPF had manage to keep private, so far.

But before the work hits movie theatres, CPF will require an initial estimated $2 million investment for the production which could take at least two years to complete. Fernandez said CPF officials were still dreaming up ideas possible, to get the eventual production right. He said: “We want to take it to the Film Company (of T&T). We believe it has enough elements for success. I think there have been quite a few good films at the (T&T) Film Festival. I have attended some of them and they are quite good. I think its time for us to make our entry into it. There are a lot of stories to be told. There are a lot of stars to be featured in it. Once you have the stars, the public would have an interest. I think it would be able to do well in the cinemas, not only in Trinidad, but across the Caribbean and the diaspora in particular.”

He said the soon-to-be recorded work would also serve to accurately chronicle the legacy of the Soca and Groovy monarch brands for generations, in a country where history is often misrepresented. But the project, earmarked to begin this June, might very well take the form of a musical or drama, too. “It might be a docu-drama-musical,” said Fernandez, chuckling. “As you know, the show (Soca Monarch) is about music. There has been some drama. We might sing it. There are a lot of things that happened out of the public’s eye. There were battles in the earlies with respect to the formation of the show. They were people fighting for the show not to happen. We want to portray some of that. It had battles with ministers and all types of stuff that we would want to portray,” said Fernandez.

He added: “Two decades from now, there would be little debate over what happened and the eventual outcome in the life of CPF. In the coming months, said Fernandez, the services of a script writer would be enlisted for the project and casting would begin. Citing the number of international film stars that have been to T&T’s Soca Monarch as celebrity commentators, Fernandez said, they might return to play a role. Asked who might play the role of William Munro, Fernandez laughed and said it was too early for that. The idea for a movie, he said, was given life just over a year ago, while conversing with Munro. “We felt that once we hit the 20th anniversary, that would be a good time to do it. Once we find the right team, were are going to sit down with them and discuss the script and then we take it from there.”

For the original report go to http://www.guardian.co.tt/carnival/2012-01-29/soca-monarch-movie-coming

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Posted in Film, Music | Tags: ,

Posted by: lisaparavisini | January 29, 2012

Isaac Julien’s painterly approach probes the edges of cinema

This article by Jeffery Gantz appeared in The Boston Globe. Follow the link below for the original report.

Isaac Julien’s films prowl the margins of mainstream cinema. A Londoner whose parents emigrated to England from the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia, Julien, 51, first attracted attention with “Looking for Langston,’’ a black-and-white meditation on Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance that won a Teddy at the 1989 Berlin Film Festival. Julien has since gone on to treat subjects as varied as the 18th-century architect Sir John Soane, the blaxploitation genre of the 1970s, and British director Derek Jarman. But he’s also an artist – he graduated from London’s Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design – and his nine-screen, China-themed video installation, “Ten Thousand Waves,’’ is currently on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art. Today the ICA will complement that installation with an afternoon retrospective of his films, in three separate 90-minute programs.

Julien may be a documentarian in his subject matter, but he’s an artist and a poet in his approach. “Looking for Langston’’ melds archival footage and photographs of Hughes – whom Julien wants to reclaim as a black gay icon – with fantasy re-creations. The painterly images, often unfolding through vertical pans and long, slow tracking shots, riff on the nude photo work of Robert Mapplethorpe and George Platt Lynes; the soundtrack ranges from Richard Bruce Nugent’s “Smoke, Lilies and Jade’’ to George Hannah’s “Freakish Man Blues.’’ The facts of Hughes’s life are subsumed into Julien’s perception of the truth.

“Derek’’ (2008), which shares the second program with “Looking for Langston,’’ is anchored by a frank, informative interview with Jarman from 1990 (he died of AIDS in 1994) and by recollections by one of his muses, Tilda Swinton, from Prospect Cottage, his home on the coast of Kent. Jarman talks about hanging out with David Hockney and Andy Warhol and Ken Russell, and there’s footage of his 1976 Queer Cinema landmark “Sebastiane,’’ and his 1978 punk classic, “Jubilee,’’ and later, better-known films such as “Caravaggio,’’ “Edward II,’’ and “Blue.’’ Like “Looking for Langston,’’ “Derek’’ is a piece of cinematic art. Sometimes, though, it’s hard to tell where Jarman’s fantasies leave off and Julien’s begin.

Does Julien ever think of making documentaries that are less, well, artistic? “I think in America there’s a very strong sense of what a biopic is, and I think these works are more like film essays,’’ he says from his London studio. “They’re kind of meditations on the biography of the filmmaker or artist. In Europe, there’s perhaps a more open approach. And I treat my audiences intelligently. But I like traditional biopics; when they’re done well, they’re fantastic.’’

He himself adopts a more traditional approach for “BaadAsssss Cinema,’’ an hourlong 2002 TV documentary made for the Independent Film Channel that shares the first program with the 10-minute “Baltimore’’ (2003). The talking heads here include blaxploitation luminaries Melvin Van Peebles, Fred Williamson, Pam Grier, and Gloria Hendry. “This one too is like a film essay,’’ Julien says, “but it’s very different. We’re talking about a Hollywood genre here. I think it’s very provocative, and quite entertaining, but there are elements where it’s trying to tell a narrative in a typical manner. I had taught a course at Harvard for Skip Gates, and ‘BaadAsssss Cinema’ came out of that course. That’s basically how the film got made.’’

He adds, “And then ‘Baltimore,’ which stars Melvin Van Peebles, is a kind of meditation on blaxploitation cinema. If you see ‘BaadAsssss Cinema’ and then ‘Baltimore,’ you’ll see a very interesting conversation. ‘Baltimore’ is a three-screen work that has been shown in many museums and has traveled around the world, but the single-screen version of it also won a prize, at the Cologne Film Biennale, in 2003.’’

Like “Baltimore,’’ some of the five shorts that make up the third program – “Vagabondia’’ (2000), “The Long Road to Mazatlán’’ (1999), “Paradise Omeros’’ (2002), “True North’’ (2004), and “The Leopard’’ (2007) – exist in multi-screen as well as single-screen form. Are the nine screens of “Ten Thousand Waves’’ the wave of Julien’s future? “I think at the moment that’s the version of my work that can be offered in a unique way in the gallery complex. I think it’s quite exciting and novel. It’s my version of 3-D cinema, a way of trying to make the audience participate.’’

For the original report go to http://bostonglobe.com/arts/2012/01/29/isaac-julien-painterly-approach-probes-edges-cinema/UYxb0E3hJDGykfbQc4T7jI/story.html

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Posted by: lisaparavisini | January 29, 2012

History channel team arrives to explore Guyana’s best kept secrets

As Guyana’s potentials continue to be revealed in the eyes of the regional and international arenas more individuals, businesses, organisations, tourists and wilderness explorers are coming to discover opportunities that the country has to offer, S. Coward reports.

Minister of Tourism Industry and Commerce Irfaan Ali who was at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri this morning to welcome yet another team, the International History Channel, told the Government Information Agency (GINA) that Guyana is seemingly becoming an ideal explorative and tourism destination in the world. The team of over 20 cast members and crew who will be in Guyana for six weeks, shooting and capturing some of the country’s most untouched and pristine areas will further help to advance the country’s uniqueness.

“The History channel has a very wide reach and large market which is consistently looking for different products that will rekindle them with nature and, Guyana’s unique ability will help to meet those demands,” Minister Ali said.

Guyana’s present tourism ability, he noted is as a result of many investments by Government in ensuring the right and necessary infrastructure were put in place to help promote and expand the country’s potential.

He is optimistic that the documentaries that will be produced by the cast will further expand the country’s marketing reach.

“Guyana is already known as one of the leading countries in environmental protection as a result of its Low Carbon Development Strategy that is being discussed around the globe…so the environment itself is product that is in high demand from world, so this is an opportunity for us to further promote what we have,” Minister Ali explained.

Guyana’s unexplored nature is considered as the Caribbean and South America’s best kept secret, according to Tim Evans, President of the New River Holdings, a company that has been in Guyana for over five years.

Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce (ag) Irfaan Ali with cast members and crew of  the International History Channel in Arrival Lounge at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri

“We have been searching for tourism resort and lodges across the country and we have found a lot of beautiful locations that would be terrific for eco-tourism and natural history programmes…we have been posting this information home to the history channel who have showed interest and the first crew has arrived to start filming,” Evans explained.

This historic event, he said has a lot in store for Guyana, since the documentaries will showcase the South American state and its beautiful, pristine and untold natural resources.

Guyana, he said was chosen because it is the only English speaking country in South America with non-stop flights to New York, pristine environment and warm political relations with the United States of America.

Amidst, the natural resources, he said that the country has an inventory of exotic wildlife and untouched forested areas.

“Guyana is the next great international destination to be discovered for eco-tourism…there are more pristine opportunities that are waiting to be explored here and I think this show is going to put Guyana on the map whilst creating a brand of recognition that will be recognized as a household name across the world,” Evans explained.

With this, he said that the onus is now on the people of Guyana to share with the explorers their cultures and ways of life since they are pivotal to marketing the country’s potentials.

Monica Martino one of the History Channel’s executive producers said the team will be heading into  the interior to explore the rainforest and wildlife, since Guyana is one of those places on earth that still has all its natural wonders intact.

“We wanted to share something new so we picked Guyana, since it is a place that can offer adventure, beauty, wildlife and excitement,” Martino explained.

Supervising producer Scott Madden said that title of the documentary, ‘Bamazon’ will be done in eight parts and broadcast on the History channel later this year, internationally reaching the homes of tens of millions of people around the globe.

“The documentaries will not only be based on Guyana today but how it made its historical presence in the world…the documentaries will be done through the eyes of seven men from southern Alabama who have never been to Guyana before and their perspectives about Guyana’s potential in the future…. the seven men will be exploring, looking for opportunities, investigating, camping, fishing and hiking, all of which will be captured on film,” Madden explained.

“We are delighted to be here in Guyana and to let the world know about the sustainable nature that Guyana has taken, its terms of sustaining its pristine rain forest for good of the world,” Madden said.

A and E networks is of one largest communication and broadcasting medium in America which includes the History Channel, Food TV, Life Time Movies and several other prime channels.

Many international explorers and Broadcasting Companies over the years have made several documentaries on Guyana including the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which was in Guyana in February last year to film a 10-part series – Serious Explorers- Raleigh.

The BBC also shot the ‘Lost Land of the Jaguar’, the three-part series which gave the country tremendous exposure and was a huge success in Europe.

For the original report go to http://www.caribbeanpressreleases.com/articles/9100/1/History-channel-team-arrives—to-explore-Guyanas-best-kept-secrets/Page1.html

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Posted by: lisaparavisini | January 29, 2012

Tap Tap: The Haitian sitcom

Made by the talented young Haitian director Zaka, Tap Tap the sitcom is now being screened in earthquake ravaged neighborhoods of Port au Prince.
The first public showing before a Haitian audience took place tonight in Jalousie, above Pétionville where several hundred people gathered to watch and enjoy the film and left asking for more.
The goal of the Tap Tap series is to represent real-life interactions in which Haitians can recognize themselves, laugh about their challenges and celebrate their vibrant culture. The tap tap is a symbol for Haitian movement and quotidian daily life, a vehicle designed with Haitian ingenuity resourcefulness and artisanal esthetic. As the tap taps winds its way through areas devastated by the earthquake, past ravines and hillsides with camps clinging to the sides, through wealthier areas and the very heart of the capital we follow the adventures of the owner-driver Mercidieu, his Facebook-loving son and the manager who endured the hardship of a restavek life.  In this episode the tap tap breaks down outside a camp where the driver is robbed by two people who emerge from the dark and then rescued by a dreadlocked young man who emerges from a camp.
The aim of the series is to raise awareness of the challenges caused by the massive displacement of so many in a capital city and the complexity of getting people from camps back to their rebuilt communities. Versions with French and English subtitles will be posted shortly.
Please share this link : http://tinyurl.com/TapTapOne
http://www.facebook.com/TapTapHaiti
Photos from the first episode
http://www.flickr.com/photos/haitilense2010/collections/72157628856610235/

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Posted by: lisaparavisini | January 29, 2012

The hypocrisy of America’s Cuba policy

For more than 50 years, the United States has had an embargo against the island of Cuba, all because we supposedly hate communism and believe the nation 90 miles from our borders should institute democracy. Roland Martin of CNN looks at the ways in which the Republican candidates—except perhaps for Ron Paul—are clueless  about Cuba and the embargo.

As the GOP candidates battle it out for votes in Florida’s primary election on Tuesday, the subject of Cuba has come up in a couple of debates. Nearly all the candidates, except for Texas Rep. Ron Paul, have sounded ridiculous trying to defend what is clearly a failed policy, all in an effort to curry favor among the large population of Cuban voters in the state.

Take, for instance, Newt Gingrich.

The former speaker of the House was his usual fire-breathing self in the NBC-National Journal debate when he called on the United States to authorize regime change to get Fidel and Raul Castro out of their positions as leaders of the country.

“I would suggest to you the policy of the United States should be aggressively to overthrow the regime and to do everything we can to support those Cubans who want freedom,” Gingrich said. “You know, Obama is very infatuated with an Arab Spring. He doesn’t seem to be able to look 90 miles south of the United States to have a Cuban Spring.

“So I would try to put in place a very aggressive policy of reaching out to every single Cuban who would like to be free, helping network them together, reaching out to the younger generation inside the dictatorship, and indicating they don’t have a future as a dictatorship because a Gingrich presidency will not tolerate four more years of this dictatorship.”

In what was the most ridiculous comment of the night, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum said that if Cuba were China in terms of its geographical proximity to the United States, he would be just as against the country.

“This is an important doctrine of the United States to make sure that our hemisphere and those who are close to us are — are folks that we can and should deal with,” Santorum said.

“And right now, we have and have had for 50 years a dictatorship in Cuba. We’ve had sanctions on them. They should continue. They should continue until the Castros are dead, and then we should make it very clear that if you want mountains of aid, if you want normal relationships, if you want to improve your economy, if you want to have the opportunity for freedom, that the United States stands ready now to embrace you now that you’ve gotten rid of these tyrants who — who have controlled you for these 50-plus years. That’s why the sanctions have to stay in place, because we need to have a — a very solid offer to come forward and help the Cuban people.”

Seriously? Is it possible for us to have a grown-folks conversation here?

There is no logical reason that candidates should deplore normalizing relations with Cuba, while we do whatever we can to help China.

Hmmm, let’s see. Cuba is a communist country. China is a communist country. The people of Cuba aren’t living in a democratic system. The people of China aren’t living in a democratic system.

Yet China has been granted most favored nation status, allowing the free flow of goods back and forth. Sorry, Rick, that has nothing to do with proximity. It’s all about China being a great outpost for U.S. businesses, and the fact that the communist country is essentially the banker of America, owning hundreds of billions of dollars of our debt.

Santorum wants to suggest that Cuba is in bed with Nicaragua and Venezuela, and they are in alignment with Iran, helping potential terrorists. Last I checked, we have relations with Russia, and they do huge business with Iran. We despise North Korea, yet China does a lot of business with North Korea.

Folks, I’m fully supportive of democracy, and we should be preaching that gospel wherever we go. But there is no way I can believe that thawing our relationship with Cuba will somehow harm America.

The Cuban-American community is loud, has major political clout and writes big checks, mainly to the GOP. But surely it’s time for the adults to admit that the embargo has not forced Castro out of office, and all it has done is give him the best bogeyman he could get when talking to Cuban citizens.

The United States should step up and end the embargo against Cuba and recognize that having real and substantive relationships with the nation could spur the democracy we say we want.

“I think it’s time … to quit this isolation business of not talking to people,” Paul said. “We talked to the Soviets. We talk to the Chinese. And we opened up trade, and we’re not killing each other now. We fought with the Vietnamese for a long time. We finally gave up, started talking to them, now we trade with them. I don’t know why — why the Cuban people should be so intimidating.

“I think we’re living in the dark ages when we can’t even talk to the Cuban people. I think it’s not 1962 anymore. And we don’t have to use force and intimidation and overthrow of a — in governments. I just don’t think that’s going to work.”

It’s time that the GOP candidates and officials in both parties stop the political pandering to Cuban Americans and say that if we want a free Cuba, it can begin with ending a senseless and failed embargo.

For the original report go to http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/28/opinion/martin-cuba-policy/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

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Posted by: ivetteromero | January 28, 2012

Georges Castera to Be Honored in the 2012 Étonnants Voyageurs Festival

Haitian poet Georges Castera will be honored in the 2012 Étonnants Voyageurs Literary Festival. The festival, which takes place from February 1 to 4 in Haiti, has as its main theme this year, “L’encre est ma demeure” [Ink is My Home], the title from Georges Castera’s work, paying tribute to the author, who will also be the writer of honor in the Livres en Folie book fair in Port-au-Prince, in June 7, 2012.  [Also see previous post http://repeatingislands.com/2012/01/06/etonnants-voyageurs-literature-festival-back-in-haiti/.]

Take the opportunity to re-discover the poet through Île en île. The site offers a detailed biography, photos, an interview with the author, and two videos featuring readings of his poems (in Creole and in French).

See Georges Castera reading a selection from his poems at http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xitjdk_georges-castera-lisant-une-selection-de-ses-poemes-1992_creation

For an interview with Georges Castera for the series « 5 questions pour Île en île », see http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcxuq3_georges-castera-5-questions-pour-il_creation

For biography, photos, poetry selections, and videos, see Île en île at
http://www.lehman.cuny.edu/ile.en.ile/paroles/castera.html

Photo from http://caraibischeletteren.blogspot.com/2012/01/etonnants-voyageurs-amazing-travelers.html

 

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Posted by: ivetteromero | January 28, 2012

New Book: Jesús Soto in Conversation with Ariel Jiménez

The Fundación Cisneros/Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (FC/CPPC) is pleased to announce the publication of Jesús Soto in Conversation with Ariel Jiménez the fourth title in the critically-acclaimed Conversaciones/Conversations series. The book presents dialogues between the renowned Venezuelan kinetic artist Jesús Soto (1923–2005) and art historian Ariel Jiménez. Based on Conversaciones con Jesús Soto, originally published by the Fundación Cisneros in 2001 and 2005, this bilingual (Spanish/English) book has been revised and expanded with new illustrations and author commentary.

Drawn from over nine years of interviews, the conversations provide a unique insight into Jesús Soto’s fascinating career. Distinguished for his involvement in the development of kinetic art in Paris in the 1950s and 60s, and his subsequent work in the geometric abstract movements in Venezuela, Soto is recognized today as one of the most important Latin American artists of the century.

Ariel Jiménez, Soto’s interlocutor, was curator (1998–2000) and later chief curator (2000–2011) of the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, and was director (2004–2006) and then curator (2006­­–2011) of the Fundación de Arte Moderno Jesús Soto in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela. He has researched and written extensively about modern and contemporary art in Latin America. His publications include La Primacía del Color (1992), He vivido por los ojos, Correspondencia Alejandro Otero/Alfredo Boulton, 1946–1974 (2001), Conversaciones con Jesús Soto (2001 and 2005), Soto (2007) and Carlos Cruz-Diez in conversation with/en conversación con Ariel Jiménez (2010).

For more information, see http://www.e-flux.com/announcements/jesus-soto-in-conversation-with-ariel-jimenez/ and www.coleccioncisneros.org

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Posted by: ivetteromero | January 28, 2012

Leonardo da Vinci, as Imagined by Cuban Director Eduardo del Llano

In December, the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC) hosted a special showing of Vinci, the first feature length film by director, screenwriter and actor Eduardo del Llano (Moscow, 1962). The film, which focuses on a young Leonardo Da Vinci, has been surrounded by controversy because it was excluded from the Havana Film Festival because it did not explore Latin American and Caribbean identity. The artist feels that he was slighted because he was trying to addressing a universal theme. He states, “Must what is Latin American exclude the universal? Doesn’t part of our Latin American identity include the desire for freedom and the importance of art for the individual, themes addressed in Vinci?” Here are excerpts from a recent review with links to several related articles below:

Del Llano is well known for his extensive work as a screenwriter: Alicia en el pueblo de maravillas (1990); Kleines Tropikana (1997) and Hacerse el sueco, all directed by Daniel Díaz Torres, and La vida es silbar (1998) and Madrigal, both by Fernando Pérez.

[. . .] The story in the film took place in Florence in 1476 at the time when 24-year-old Leonardo was an apprentice in Andrea del Verrocchio’s workshop. “We speculated about the young Leonardo’s days in prison, accused of sodomy, a crime which, although considered minor, was shameful and humiliating for the time. It appears to have been an anonymous accusation and he was sentenced to a few months in prison. This is the historical event,” Del Llano indicated, “and my film is about what could have happened inside the prison. I include some characters who may have been with him, or not. It isn’t a biography. It has to do with the role of art in the life of a human being, about what function art serves, without pretending to say anything new or definitive.”

The film was shot in just one location, a cell recreated in Havana’s San Carlos de la Cabaña Fortress and has only four actors. “It has all the veracity we could recreate and I’m pleased with the visual result; it is what we had in mind based on paintings from the era.”

As for the actors, Del Llano affirmed that he is very happy with his choices: Héctor Medina has created an excellent characterization of Leonardo; Manuel Romero is Luigi, a common delinquent who to some degree is impressed with his new cellmate; Carlos Gonzalvo is Piero, another ruffian, perhaps someone with less intellectual prowess and the one who is most affected given the film’s thesis as to the utility or influence of beauty on people who have nothing to do with any of this, and finally the great actor Fernando Echevarría, who plays the jailer.

Vinci has three virtues. The first being the collaboration of Roberto Fabelo, National Prize for Visual Arts, who did the charcoal drawings for the cell walls, attempting to capture the spirit of the young artist; portraits of prisoners and other subjects of particular symbolism within the film, such as birds and landscapes, reflecting all of da Vinci iconography, works which could have been done by an adolescent Leonardo. Next is the music, from Argentine composer Osvaldo Montes (who has done sound tracks for films such as El lado oscuro del corazón, by Eliseo Subiela and Tango feroz, by Marcelo Piñeyro) performed by the Cuban ancient music group Ars Longa. The third asset is the photography, by Raúl Pérez Ureta, 2010 National Prize for Film winner, who once again demonstrated his strengths in composition and lighting, getting the most out of the one location.

Vinci is a film addressing a universal issue and goes beyond the national. Perhaps its short duration has made for a certain lack of flow and character development, but it is a very interesting effort by Eduardo del Llano.

For full article, see http://www.granma.cu/ingles/culture-i/12ener-Vinci.html

For full interview (in Spanish), see http://laventana.casa.cult.cu/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=6647

For a review (in English) and photo above, see http://arrajatabla.net/2011/11/solidaridad-con-eduardo-del-llano/

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Posted by: ivetteromero | January 28, 2012

Casa de la Américas Awards: Afro-Cuban Women Discuss Afro-Cuban Women

In the 53rd Casa de la Américas Literary Awards, Caribbean winners included Haitian writer Gary Victor for his novel Le sang et la mer, with a special mention for Guadalupe’s Gisèle Pineau for her Morne Câpresse. Two Cuban essayists were also conferred prizes for their works on African-American/Afro-Cuban women; Zuleica Romay won the first prize in the category on Black Presence in the Americas and the Contemporary Caribbean for her essay “Elogio de la altea o las paradojas de la racialidad.” In this same category, the special mention went to Inés M. Martiatu with “¿Y las negras qué? Pensando el afrofeminismo en Cuba.”

In “Premios CASA: Dos negras cubanas que me representan,” Negra Cubana tenía que ser blog writes: “Zuleica Romay and Inés M. Martiatu were the two Cuban intellectuals awarded in the prize House concluded yesterday. Both are black women. The first is the president of the place where I work, Instituto del Libro [The Book Institute] and the second is my friend and mentor. Both competed in the same category, for the Premio Extraordinario de Estudios sobre la presencia negra en la América y el Caribe contemporáneo [Special Prize for Studies on Black Presence in the Americas and the Contemporary Caribbean], which Zuleica [Romay] won with the essay ‘Elogio de la altea o las paradojas de la racialidad’ and Lalita [Inés M. Martiatu] was awarded a special mention with the text ‘¿Y las negras qué? Pensando el afrofeminismo en Cuba.’ I am jubilant; I feel very well represented!”

Negra Cubana tenía que ser is a blog that highlights black women in Cuba and the Americas, analyzing the challenges and achievements of Afro-Cubans in all spheres of contemporary life in Cuba.

For the list of Casa de la Américas prize winners this year, see http://laventana.casa.cult.cu/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=6672 (in Spanish) and previous post Casa de las Americas Literary Awards Announced (in English)

For original post (in Spanish), see http://negracubanateniaqueser.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/premios-casa-dos-negras-cubanas-que-me-representan/

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