Days of Cuban Culture in Bucharest: six contemporary painters and three fiction feature films

The Embassy of the Republic of Cuba in Romania and the Cervantes Institute in Bucharest are organizing from November 21-25 the “Days of Cuban Culture in Bucharest”. For four days, contemporary Cuban culture will be approached from various perspectives and through several arts: postmodern painting only on the individuality of the artists, but also on the reinterpretation of the social, cultural, political or communicative valences of their creation, romantic films inspired by contemporary drama or nostalgic for the spirit of the Cuban revolution, a filmic triptych full of Decameronic humor, but also of allusions, intertextualities and references to film history.

The events in the program will take place at the headquarters of the Cervantes Institute in Bucharest (Queen Elisabeta Boulevard no. 38): in the Auditorium Hall (films) and in the Exhibition Hall (visual art events). Participation in the events is free, but reservations are made by sending a message to cultbuc@cervantes.es (the reservation is only valid after receiving a written confirmation).

The event that opens this Cuban suite will take place on Monday, November 21, from 6:30 p.m.: the opening of the exhibition If life offers you… six contemporary Cuban painters, inauguration that will take place in the presence of the artists Yasbel Pérez-Domínguez and Eduardo Abela Torras.

On Tuesday, November 22, at 6:30 p.m., there will be a screening of the film No longer as before / Ya no es antes (directed by Lester Hamlet, Cuba, 2016, drama, original Spanish version, English subtitles). The film tells the story of a mature couple separated since adolescence. After one of them emigrates, they find themselves in Cuba after forty years: an opportunity to see how much they have changed and if the promises of love made decades ago could be kept.

On Thursday, November 24, from 6:30 p.m., there will be a screening of Casa veche / Casa vieja (directed by Lester Hamlet, Cuba, 2010, drama, original Spanish version, English subtitles). Based on the classic Cuban play The Old House by writer Abelardo Estorino, the film tells the story of Esteban, who returns home after a 14-year absence when he learns of his father’s imminent death. Living outside his native Cuba, he is confronted with a past almost intact. Secrets, old resentments, misunderstandings and intolerance push him to stay in a house where time seems to have stopped.

On Friday, November 25, at 6:30 p.m., there will be a screening of the film Havana Decamerons / Boccaccerías habaneras (directed by Arturo Sotto, Cuba, 2013, comedy-drama, original Spanish version, English subtitles). Three independent stories related to the room of a writer in crisis of imagination, where people go to tell their stories in the hope of one day becoming novel characters: Verii /Los primos, N o sa credi / No te lo vas a creer and The history of tobacco / La historia del tabaco. A version of Boccaccio’s writing in a city setting, a Havana Decameron, a film full of sensuality, casualness, irreverence and hidden passions.

The exhibition If Life Gives You… Six Contemporary Cuban Painters brings together works by Eduardo Abela Torras, Juan Leo Brower, Yari Delgado, Sándor González Vilar, Oscar Javier Jacas and Yasbel Pérez-Domínguez. The visiting schedule is until December 22, according to the following schedule – Monday-Thursday: 09.00-20.00, Friday-Saturday; 09.00-15.00, Sunday: closed.