The Cuban official pointed out that this celebration is neither heresy nor an over-dimensioning of facts, but an act of justice to Cuban cinema and culture after the results in the last fifty years.
"One of the main merits achieved by ICAIC all these years is the production of over six thousand films from different genres," stressed González.
The film institution, created in 1959, three months after the triumph of the Cuban revolution, was seriously affected by the decrease of the island's economy eighteen years ago, "because it was the most complex and more expensive of the cultural industries," said González at a press conference, where he talked about ICAIC's plans for the celebration of the institution's five decades.
However, the recovery efforts has so far lead to the fact that within the next few months, and as part of the celebrations of ICAIC's 50th anniversary, this year they will produce eight feature films, while about six will be pre-produced or filmed, and a dozen might be made in 2009. Likewise, nine documentaries will be made this year, six will be post-produced, and fourteen will be filmed this year and six in 2009. Five hundred minutes of cartoons will also be made during this period.
"How are we going to celebrate this anniversary that will last until the late 2009?," asked González. "We are going to celebrate it with more work and a bigger production than we have ever done since 1990, when we went into a critical stage," he replied.
González said that ICAIC's 50th anniversary means an important and transcendental date for Cuban culture, since this was the first cultural institution ever created after the triumph of the Revolution.
Cuba 50 