Poetry: performances from 'Chocolate Che' by Damian Furniss filmed by Mark Barton

On Saturday February 27th 2010 I made a film with Mark Barton, a TV production MA student at University College, Falmouth.

Watching yourself never makes for comfortable viewing but with festivals demanding video footage before making a booking, it had to be done.

With six hours to make six minutes of footage, time was short. With most of the effort going into the editing, we worked with the first good take and with my mental capacity limited to learning a stanza or two at a time spliced shots using different angles, lighting effects, costumery and photographs to produce the finished piece.

It features performances of 'Chocolate Che', 'Darshan with Dalai Lama', 'Bacon Dust' and 'Che's Hands' from the book 'Chocolate Che'  more details of which can be found by following the links in the lefthand margin of this page.

'Chocolate Che' by Damian Furniss is published by  Shearsman Books on April 2nd 2010.

youtube link

Cinema: Review of 'Fresa y Chocolate' or 'Strawberry and Chocolate'

Generally, the only event to lure the Blah Blah Blah crew into the Black Box at Exeter's Phoenix Arts Centre is the monthly Uncut Poets event, but the chance to see one of my favourite Cuban films - 'Fresa y Chocolate' or 'Strawberry and Chocolate' - on a biggish screen was too much to resist, even on a Monday night.

Originally released in 1994 during Cuba's 'special period' - the years following the end of the Soviet Union and Eastern European communism - the story takes place in Havana in 1979, a time when the revolutionary spirit was still strong in Cuba twenty years  on, but repression of homosexuals and other perceived dissidents was also at its height.

I don't have time today to do the film justice. Follow the links here and above to find more detailed discussion. It has elements of an odd couple or buddy movie, and works at that level as a moving comedy - but is of particular interest to anyone interested in Cuban politics and society. The very fact it was made and tolerated by a regime previously not averse to censorship was notable in itself, the open playing confrontation of differing world views (the homosexual aesthete versus the heterosexual doctrinaire communist) significant in surfacing debate that had previously been kept underground.

The achievements and compromises of Cuban society under a communist regime are also all present - the quality of the health service and education system versus the rationing of and hustling for consumer goods - and correct, but the movie is neither polemic nor documentary and works well as a cookie comedy with some fine performances, especially by Jorge Perugorria who plays the camp but charismatic Diego. For visitors to Cuba, it also features some landmarks including the Coppelia ice cream parlour which is open to all comers and a good place to chat to Habaneros in a relaxed atmosphere. More exlusively, Paladar Guarida - the apartment where much of the film was shot - is now a privately restaurant, but book ahead as it's a real celeb hangout and very popular with the diplomatic community.

The event was organised by Jane Yates who is testing the Exeter waters to gauge interest in setting up a branch of the Cuban Solidarity Campaign.  She plans further Cuban film evenings so keep an eye on the Phoenix website and this blog.