Retrospective IFFI #35

The Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión (EICTV) opened on 15 December 1986 in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. In his founding address, Acta de Nacimiento de la Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV en San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba, sobrenombrada de Tres Mundos (Birri 1986), the Argentinian director and first head of the school, Fernando Birri, set out the EICTV’s mission as a transnational film school open exclusively to students from Latin America, Africa and Asia. Its orientation as a “film school of the three worlds” is an act of solidarity with other “nations exploited by imperialists.” To this day, however, the majority of students come from Latin American countries; since the school opened its doors to become a “school of all worlds”, a significant proportion of students have also come from Spain.

The principles outlined in the founding document are progressive: In Birri’s words, the EICTV is “a factory of the eye and the ear, a laboratory of the eye and the ear, an amusement park of the eye and the ear”; a place of creation, experimentation, and a joy in cinematic expression. Also central to this vision was a balance between students from urban centres and the periphery, representation of minorities and marginalised groups, and gender parity, the latter of which has not yet been achieved. Fundamental to the school is the “anti-scholastic” approach of consistently practice-oriented training: instruction is provided exclusively by active filmmakers, and the focus is on a learning-by-doing approach that inextricably links theory and practice. The goal is to produce film and television makers who are technically proficient, work with artistic independence, and possess an emancipated and emancipatory perspective. This is achieved through a year of general training (Polivalencia) followed by specialisation in feature film directing, documentary film directing, screenwriting, production, cinematography, editing, sound, TV or new media.

Alongside Birri, the Colombian writer and Nobel Prize laureate in Literature Gabriel García Márquez played a key role in the conception and implementation of the EICTV; he served as chairman of the supporting foundation, the Fundación del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, until his death in 2014. Also worth mentioning is the Cuban filmmaker and later director of the school, Julio García Espinosa, who is credited with articulating the empowering conception of cinema that underpins New Latin American Cinema: “Everything we do, everything we want to do, serves the goal of enabling us to determine our own image for ourselves. Another cinema is possible” (Espinosa as cited in Balaisis 2013: 187). Birri underscores the significance of such an educational institution: “So that the place of Utopia, which by definition has no place, may exist somewhere”(Birri as cited in Balaisis 2013: 187). Yet for all the important work the EICTV produces, its utopian conception does not always stand up to reality: according to reports from students (2024), it is not immune to the global problem of sexual assault, and there are also allegations of censorship (2025).

The Cuban government also played a key role, as its provision of infrastructure support made the school’s founding possible in the first place. Nevertheless, in many respects the school operates “uniquely separate from the political restrictions and economic limitations often felt in everyday life in Cuba” (Balaisis 2013: 186). However, the EICTV has not remained untouched by developments in Cuba over its 40-year history: the supply situation in Cuba is becoming increasingly dire, and increasingly prolonged power outages are making daily school life more difficult.

This 40th anniversary provides the occasion for this Retrospective, whose founding premise is that a global network radiates from the EICTV, with the IFFI forming part of it through various connections. A particularly notable connection is Fernando Birri, who has been a frequent guest at IFFI. Festival founder and longtime director Helmut Groschup initiated, among other things, a Fernando Birri stamp series by Austrian Post, co-edited an anthology on Birri’s work with Renate Wurm and awarded him the IFFI Honorary Prize in 2010. Films by EICTV graduates form another connecting thread: around 20 student works were screened at IFFI. Raphael Webhofer, a Tyrolean documentary filmmaker, also studied at the EICTV. His film UN HOMBRE is nominated for the Volksbank Short Film Competition, and ONCE is part of the Retrospective’s second short film programme. The programme highlights these connections, showcases the diversity of cinematic approaches and at the same time offers a multifaceted view of Cuba.

The Retrospective begins with Fernando Birri’s UN SEÑOR MUY VIEJO CON UNAS ALAS ENORMES (1988), which he made during his time as director of the EICTV. This is followed by films by graduates that were presented at IFFI and illustrate the wide formal range of the programme: JEAN GENTIL (2010, IFFI #20) by Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas is a hybrid feature film about an unemployed Haitian teacher having an existential crisis; JUAN DE LOS MUERTOS (2011, IFFI #22) by Alejandro Brugués combines the zombie genre with political satire. The documentary LOS OFENDIDOS (2016, IFFI #27) by Marcela Zamora addresses torture prisons during the civil war in El Salvador from a personal perspective. The essay film A MEDIA VOZ (2019) by Heidi Hassan and Patricia Pérez Fernández, a cinematic dialogue between two Cuban emigrants, exemplifies long-term collaborations among EICTV graduates. Two short film programmes round out the lineup: The first brings together fictional works featuring sometimes offbeat humour, including OSCUROS RINOCERONTES ENJAULADOS by Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti, a student from the first EICTV cohort, which was screened as early as 1992 at the 1st America Film Festival in Innsbruck. The second short film programme offers a variety of documentary approaches to the realities of life in Cuba.