De Cierta Manera

Newly restored, De Cierta Manera by Afro-Cuban director Sara Gómez is a fascinating docu-romance-drama and critical ethnographic study of a new couple, Yolanda and Mario. The filmmaker clearly assesses the complexities of intersectional, marginalised lives in 70s Cuba, with its ongoing issues of machismo, poverty, and racial discrimination. Gómez also beautifully supplements the film with a factual narrative that contextualises the relationship, the community, and the tensions of life in a new socialist society. This screening is followed by a pre-recorded discussion with Cuban and UK-based film academics and experts.

‘The cinema of Sara Gómez identifies the masks of colonialism, particularly worn by previously marginalized communities (black people, women, poor, religious and young people) who, unaware of the possibility of a better future, were about to turn a revolutionary utopia into a reality, but only if they could become, first of all themselves, subjects of social change. Gómez shows the difficulty of this change, exposing the roots of the world that had to be left behind and demanding the arrival of the future: her mission was to allow these communities to understand the process of what was happening in their lives, their needs and possible departures.’

Roberto Zurbano Torres: Essayist and cultural critic, Havana in conversation with Havana Glasgow Film Festival.