3D Censorship in Cuba

3D Censorship in Cuba / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo
Posted on November 12, 2013

Earlier this year a popular new entertainment business cropped up in
Havana: 3D movies! And, as with anything new that happens in Cuba, even
if it's commonplace in much of the world, it's taken the form of a
private initiative (without official license), functioning outside the
state institutions that still use obsolete equipment in their movie
theaters and video stores.

The government's reaction—always reactive to the point of
reactionary—came without delay: The vice-minister of culture, the
renowned censor Fernando Rojas, ruled that this was an "illegal
activity" in "poor taste" since it "promotes much frivolity, mediocrity,
pseudo-culture and banality" (most of the movies were comedies, horror
movies, adventure movies, and children's movies, almost always from the
USA, such as Star Trek, Ice Age, and World War Z). Therefore, according
to Rojas, they must be "regulated" according to "the principles of the
cultural policy of the Revolution."

Just a week later, that "regulation" has been revealed as total
censorship with no means of protest.

In reality, the theaters were just rooms in private residences (20–100
seats) where you could book a spot in advance and choose the movie you
wanted to see. They were open almost all day, with tickets priced
between one and four convertible pesos (a local currency where one peso
is equivalent to one dollar), and included culinary offerings like
popcorn, sandwiches, and drinks. They featured 47-inch TV sets or
200-inch screens, tinted 3D glasses, 5.1 hi-fi sound systems, and air
conditioning.

This technology is not available in Cuba. The tools for these theaters
were bought off of the island and imported privately, with start-up
costs reaching thousands of dollars. In addition, the owners ran
promotional dancing, singing, costume, and stand-up comedy competitions.
This was already far more than the state had to show for itself, after
having ruined, for example, the hundreds of cinemas that once existed in
Havana. (Today there are only around 20 working movie theaters in the
city. The majority have poor facilities, look run down, and are places
where sexual harassment is not uncommon.)

The totalitarian logic of control over information in Cuba once again
left nothing to chance. Everything under the dictatorship. Outside the
dictatorship, there is nothing.

From Sampsonia Way Magazine

11 November 2013

Source: "3D Censorship in Cuba / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo | Translating
Cuba" -
http://translatingcuba.com/3d-censorship-in-cuba-orlando-luis-pardo-lazo/