MIAMI.- The social explosion of the Cuban people in search of change has been reflected in They Scream Freedom (They Scream Freedom), documentary by Taiwanese-American filmmaker Melinda Raebyne, which premieres in Miami on Friday, July 26, at the American Museum of the Cuban DiasporaThere will be a second screening on Saturday the 27th, both days at 7pm.
The film, which has won awards at international film festivals, offers a raw and unfiltered look at the protests led by Cubans who took to the streets of the island on July 11, 2021 to demand from the regime an inherent right of human beings: freedom.
Narrated by Tommy Clark, who secretly recorded the images at the risk of his own life, the audiovisual material captures the essence of Cuban resilience through testimonies, exclusive interviews and pieces of art that express the reality from within the country.
Actor Andy Garcia, actor Laz Alonso and activist Rosa Mara Pay are some of the interviewees. The soundtrack was composed by Grammy Award-winning music producer Jorge Gomez.
They scream freedom The project was supported by ArtesMiami, a non-profit organization founded by Aida Levitan with the aim of promoting art and culture. It was precisely a grant from this cultural promoter that allowed Raebyne to see her work completed.
ArtesMiami has many contacts throughout the United States and the world. One of those contacts is a Cuban-American poet named Jorge Enrique Gonzalez, who lives in Seattle, Washington, and created the Seattle Latino Film Festival. He is a friend of Melinda’s, he found out what she was doing and referred her to us when we opened the film fund two years ago, Aida Levita told DIARIO LAS AMRICAS.
“We wanted to co-produce it because this documentary shows, in a graphic and realistic way, how the authorities, dressed in civilian clothes, abused these young people, almost children, who were peacefully shouting for their freedom. So we thought that by creating this documentary this Taiwanese-American director was doing something very important for the exile and the Cuban people, which is to communicate to the world in English what happened and continues to happen in Cuba. As a result of this documentary, Europeans and Americans outside of Miami have seen the reality of the Cuban people,” he added.
Raebyne was among the filmmakers who presented projects to a jury that selected the winning entries.
She applied for funding. And a jury consisting of Kareem Tabsch and Alex Fumero (my son), who did Much, much love: The legend of Walter MercadoThey recruited other Cuban-American and Latino filmmakers to serve on the jury and selected six proposals. Three of them have already been screened at film festivals around the world. They scream freedom has won at several festivals, Levitan said.
We are very proud to have awarded nearly $50,000 to these filmmakers. In Melinda’s case, she received a $10,000 grant from ArtesMiami that made it possible for her to finish the documentary. And we are going to present it on July 26, which is a terrible date for Cubans. It is a kind of irony that on that day we are presenting the truth of the disaster that the Cuban revolution brought us 65 years ago, he added.
He also believes that it is important to support film projects as a tool to raise awareness about social issues, especially if they are related to the Cuban cause.
I think that the world of cinema is important as a cultural and communication medium. In the case of the ArtesMiami film fund, the first cycle of grants was dedicated to the Cuban community, to Cuban themes. And that is why the theme of the demonstrations in Cuba seemed very appropriate to us. And of course it is an artistic presentation through a documentary. We also support the Cuban film cycle that Miami Dade College does; there have already been some films that have not been seen for a long time, some have never been seen before. Now the last one is going to be Sergio Giral’s film on Beny Mor, which very few have seen in Miami. That will be on August 23. We also support the Miami Film Festival as long as it is about films by Cuban exiles. And that is why we pay for all these Cuban themes with a grant of 25 thousand dollars, he explained.
But ArtesMiami’s mission also expands beyond Cuban themes.
We have also done things that have nothing to do with Cubans, such as Actors Playhouse, which receives cash every year, and the promotion we do, because we use our database of about 7,000 contacts to help them reach a diverse audience. Every year we help the Pérez Art Museum promote the exhibitions they do. So ArtesMiami’s activity is varied. We have published poetry by Hispanics from Miami, and we have published not only in Spanish, but also in English.
The screenings of They Want Freedom will be attended by Melinda Raebyne, the documentary’s director, Tommy Clark, the narrator, and Jorge Gomez, the composer. At the end of each screening there will be a discussion with the audience.