This past December, Professor Juanamaria Cordones-Cook traveled to Cuba, on whose cultural history she has been conducting research and producing widely-seen and widely-discussed documentaries. During this research residency, she completed work on six documentary films for which principal photography had begun, in some cases, more than a decade ago — but whose completion was affected by logistical and political difficulties arising from the US-Cuba relationship. All produced and directed by Professor Cordones-Cook, these films include:
- Eugenio Hernández Espinosa y su teatro negro / and his Black Theater (Havana 2023, 57 minutes)
- Soleida Ríos. Mundo. Alma. Poesía. / World. Soul. Poetry. (Havana 2023, ca. 71 minutes)
- La tradición arará con Daisy Brau (Havana 2024, ca. 36 minutes)
- Gerardo Alfonso: Romanticismo y compromiso en un trovador / A Romantic and Committed troubadour (Havana 2023, 62 minutes)
- René Peña: Provocación en la Fotografía / Provocation in Photography (Havana 2023, 50 minutes)
The last film listed here, René Peña: Provocación en la Fotografía, premiered at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, in Havana, on January 11th. Widely reviewed in the press, the film was praised by Rafael de Acosta of OnCubaNews as a "choral conversation [conversación coral] about Peña and his outstanding work."
A sixth film, Diago, instinto ancestral (Havana 2024, 52 minutes), will premiere here in Columbia this semester, during the Afro-Cuban Legacies conference on April 10th, 2024.
