http://www.cubacine.cu/cinemat/index.html#nada

The CINEMATHEQUE OF CUBA
<http://www.cubacine.cu/cinemat/index.html#contacto> 
was established under the auspices of the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC), and has since remained a steady archive. It’s a member of FIAF (Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film) since 1961 and of CLAIM (International Coordinator of Motion Picture Libraries). It’s the only true cinematheque in the Caribbean and keeper of one of the largest cinematic patrimonies in our region. After more than thirty years of work, the prestige of this archive has grown among its peers, for it helps those taking their first steps and keeps an endless cooperation with others around the world.

Having saved a part of domestic production from before ICAIC was born and being the owner of everything made afterwards –at a time when Cuba developed a singular movie industry– and as a result of a continuous and thorough work for over three decades by both the specialists and archive creator Héctor García Mesa, plus close-knit ties with the late socialist countries, we keep a huge amount of remarkably documented international cinema. Owing to the initial inclusion of an excellent collection of U.S.-made films and to the annual celebration in Havana of the most significant Latin American movie festival, this wealth and its related documentation became a second field of expertise for our stock.

However, such account of virtues has its weakness, though we have decided to face up to it and at the same time request support to safeguard a heritage that belongs as much to worldwide cinema in its broadest and richest sense. In 1989 an expert commission pinned down the Cinematheque of Cuba as one of the archives with a patrimonial stock of over 80 000 reels and a yearly growth of 17%, a figure out of keeping with both domestic production and our ability to preserve it without the state of the art and under unfavorable conditions. With production almost at a standstill today, the growing rate has changed, but there’s still a large collection in store. In 1990, considerable short- or medium-term stock losses were diagnosed because of progressive material deterioration and lack of technical and economic resources to undertake the duplication of master copies and other conservation works in an environment with a relative humidity of up to 70% and a mean temperature of 19,5°C to 27°C. This damage has mostly come in the way of mechanical damage, loss of color, grease stains, dirt and bacteria, black-and-white image fading, and sound distortions. Poor storing and temperature conditions step up the pace of damage. The combination of these causes raised the alarm.

Our Cinematheque boasts a qualified staff. We need resources and updated equipment fit for use in a tropical country and under the circumstances of the archive. We have launched an international campaign of support among nongovernmental bodies, film archives having better resources, enterprises, institutions and individuals. The amount of money we need is yet to be figured out depending on the sources of supply and price fluctuations for products which in our case are always imported.

ICAIC has always been there for us, but the economic crisis in Cuba is a fact, not a metaphor. Resources that we used to have available for film preservation and other culture-related purposes are now allocated to more urgent tasks. Leaving aside the reasons for that crisis or any possible measures to get through it –both issues being outside our scope–, we are worried about losing an important patrimony of real artistic films and exceptionally valuable documentaries, a visual memory that belongs not only to Cuba but also to other countries whose filmmakers and producers entrusted us with their works.

Please contact:

Cinemateca de Cuba
Calle 23 no. 1155, Vedado, La Habana, Cuba.
e-mail: cinemateca@icaic.inf.cu

 ---ooOoo---