Captured by celluloid magic, Yury García Fatela grew up like little Salvatore from Cinema Paradiso. Although it was not in some small Italian town, here, on our island, he slipped through the interstices of cinematography, he believed himself to be some character or other and grew up, grew up loving the Seventh Art.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- For this reason, and because this love has never left him, it is no surprise that he won the 30th Cinemazul Film Appreciation Festival, which recently concluded in this eastern city.
For his analysis of El secreto de sus ojos (The Secret in Their Eyes), by director Juan José Campanella, the writer, teacher, and tireless cultural promoter won the Ola Award -the highest festival prize.
"This is a film of the soul, which speaks of the solution of a crime, but also of a love that has not been overcome, which beats for 25 years inside two people," he told 26 while acknowledging “the genius” of elements such as the script, the direction, the acting, the dramaturgy...
For him, "Cinemazul is a sui generis festival, where films don't compete, but rather the value of communication around cinema." He mentions among its strengths that "it offers the possibility of interaction, feedback, sharing feelings, multiple knowledge... We all experience emotions through films and we transmit them to each other. That is what is important."
Beyond the event, Yury runs the Carpe Diem film club in the capital city, one of the most active in the province. "We can't think that this activity is not motivating, quite the contrary. From our confraternity, we have seen that we like it. New technologies will never be able to replace the magic of the dark rooms."
From his experience, he recommends those involved in this sphere to approach schools, communities, and different spaces, to awaken interest in cinema. He also urges to rescue the neighborhood debates, which once proved to be functional. "When it comes to analyzing a film, everything is more influential when you share your knowledge. It's a beautiful process. If you understand the cinematographic elements (dramaturgy, lights, sound...), you enjoy the audiovisual proposals more. And you don't have to be a filmmaker or study at the Arts Superior Institute (ISA) for that. I can assure you that I've always seen cinema as a kind of magic, it's one of my great passions," he says.
In addition to Yury, Julio César Sanz Medrano ("Colombia"), and Yusleydis Cruz Betancourt (Manatí), received a special mention with the Participation Award and a collateral prize awarded by the Cuban Society of Psychologists in Las Tunas.
Yusleydis approached the Cuban film La pared de las palabras (The Wall of Words), by director Fernando Pérez Valdés. In dialogue with 26, she said: "It's an interesting film. It's about how to deal with people who live with a disability. It teaches us how the family, and society as a whole, should be inserted to understand them better." She also recommends always looking for the psychological side behind the plot because more than watching a film, you have to live it, to move to another dimension.
This time, "Cinemazul" bet on surpassing itself and, from the voices of seven film club members, multiplying efforts to strengthen a valuable event, which should be supported more by the province, in pursuit of the development of our culture.
