Cuban Poster Art on Display at Watson, in Conjunction with Latin American Film Festival

While strained US-Cuba relations continue to limit access to Cuban art and cinema in the United States, a wide selection of Cuban film posters will be on public display at the Watson Institute until October 15. The poster exhibit accompanies the 17^th annual Providence Latin American Film Festival, which will bring Cuban films never before seen by American audiences to the Providence community.

 

The posters’ distinct and consistent aesthetic reveals much about the historical context that shaped the films, said José Torrealba, outreach coordinator for Brown’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and organizer of both exhibit and festival. While other Latin American countries have largely embraced the “Hollywood style” in their posters, Cuban poster designers have “refused and negated the market look,” he said.

 

When a viewer sees one of the posters, “you go to a time. You immediately identify it as a Cuban poster,” Torrealba emphasized, noting that posters from 1961 and 2006 alike use common elements of form, color, and style.

 

In part reflecting a determined isolation from capitalist influence, this consistency of style also reveals the importance of film posters as tools of political propaganda, Torrealba said. Neither the posters nor the films they advertised were targeted to an international audience. Rather, they were meant to promote the revolution to Cubans and spread revolutionary values throughout Latin America and South-East Asia. As a result, the artists undoubtedly worked within explicit stylistic constraints, Torrealba said. Revealingly, the poster designer’s name is often relegated to the poster’s edge, underscoring that the film poster is not the creation of an artist, but of a nation.

 

Even within strict design standards, however, the posters exhibit aesthetic diversity that mirrors the diversity of the films themselves. Torrealba highlighted one poster in black and white that employs abstract, figurative forms, reflecting the film’s emphasis on characters’ subjective perceptions of reality. The film and poster “are not separate entities,” Torrealba said.

 

To deepen their understanding of Cuban cinema, history, and culture, festival goers will have the opportunity to make a “human connection to Cuban filmmakers,” Torrealba said. As part of the film festival’s national focus on Cuba, a delegation of Cuban industry professionals – including actors, producers, and directors – will make their first US appearance, participating in panel discussions and engaging audience members in conversation.

 

This uniquely personal exposure to Cuban perspectives may expose viewers to new points of view, Torrealba said. For instance, some American viewers interpret Cuban films that critique the Cuban government as evidence for Cubans’ desire to follow a US political model, Torrealba said. “From my perspective... that’s not the case,” he said.

 

Rather, the films and posters reflect the distinctiveness of Cuban cultural and political sensibilities. “Culturally powerful countries have always realized the importance of filmmaking for national identity,” Torrealba said.