Cuban cinema, crisis or transition? Negotiating a cultural tightrope

Abstract

According to García Borrero, although recent events would appear to signal a new start in Cuban cinema, the transition towards a different type of audiovisual production has been happening for a while due to a number of factors, not least the use of new digital technologies that have democratised production and have allowed many young people to make films away from the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC) when previously the institution had a very tight rein on both production and distribution. It is this loss of centralised control of the production process that is at the heart of the institution’s problems, and this article draws on the work of Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci to illustrate how hegemony is operating within Cuban cinema production today, ultimately arguing that what is involved today in Cuban cinema is a struggle for hegemony and a crisis of civil society.