Screen Cuba is delighted to announce that we will welcome two guests from Cuba to our Film Festival. Gladys González Martínez and Silvia Padrón Durán will both introduce films, participate in Q&As, as well as more informal chat with audiences after the screenings. 

Gladys González Martínez is the Vice President of the Cuban film institute (ICAIC) in Havana. She is a video producer and director of programmes for television and has a PhD in Human Rights, Equality, Education and Social Intervention. Gladys embraces ICAIC’s mission ‘to reflect and affect culture’ and has spoken about the importance in nurturing the Institute’s relationship with the youngest generation of filmmakers. She insists that audiences appreciate seeing important issues on screen:  ‘women’s empowerment, acceptance of minority social groups, new approaches and problems of public administration, but also ordinary peopleʼs dreams, local mythology and history.’ Gladys will introduce the films at several screenings.

Silvia Padrón Durán works with film and other art forms as the Director of La Manigua, a cultural centre in Havana, and collaborates with Cuban TV and radio on audiovisual projects for children and adolescents. La Manigua offers children and their families creativity and learning experiences related to Cuban history, art and culture, based on the work of Juan Padrón (1947-2020). Padrón is Silvia’s father and a respected director known as Cuba’s godfather of animation. She is deeply involved with the restoration and digitisation of some of his most important film animations and other materials he created. Last year Screen Cuba raised funds to restore two of his shorts that will be screened at the Festival. Silvia will be introducing a newly published book with colourful illustrations of Padron’s work.