By Ian Craig*

Being still very young, Rigoberto López (Havana, 1947) used to see documentals about felines from African meadows and his father took him to see Peter Pan. From that very moment on, he felt the double vocation of making movie and travel. Logically, he pursued a career related to documental movie and frecuently worked at movie and television from some African countries, adding some others from Latin America and the Caribbean. This interview, made during the 22th Havana Film Festival, December 2000, is approaching interesting themes highlighting his viewpoint about the Caribbean, the cinema approaching Latin music, his last documental about Puerto Principe and something about his new fiction project.

About how the Caribbean experience has influenced in his movie.

I've spent many years feeling myself as a Caribbean man. My own Cubaness allowed me to feel it in that way and I believe the better way for understand my country is this close contact with the Caribbean countries, they have helped me just like someone that is looking at a mirror and the mirror offers an enhanced image of yourself or maybe some angles of yourself that otherwise you are not able to discover. They gave me a perspective of ourselves.

I went to Granada during the Maurice Bishop's government, from that visit a documental project came up, gaining afterwards a sad notoriety: Granada, despegue de un sueño. It obtain such a fame, because it certainly was the last Maurice Bishop's interview being alive before a camera and becoming a testimony, in some way, his final allegation, a sort of political and poetic testament about the Caribbean, about his vision of the Caribbean and his own country. The documental has as main theme the controversial topic between Reagan and Bishop governments regarding to Points-Salines Airport construction. The U.S attack to Granada gave to this documental an extraordinary testimonial relevance due to the real facts revelation relating to airport construction and the presence of Maurice Bishop revealing himself as ordinary people, this documental was not only internationally well-seen but also achieved lots of prizes and recognitions.

In Barbados I had the chance of talking to the former culture secretary and I could verify that far beyond the idiomatic frontiers and even different cultural traditions, very usual between an ex-colony of Spain and other ex-colony of Great Britain, is easy to find many similarities, many communicative lines, many points in common. The prints of African cultures are always present among us as a bridge, they are always a source ready for a permanent dialogue and a quick, very quick understanding. In my film Junto al Golfo, I wanted to take advantage of Carifesta celebration on 1979 in Havana to show how dance is an extraverbal language which has historically function as a communicative string, an ever-lasting dialogue among the Caribbean countries in its different linguistic and cultural areas, in other words, I wanted to prove the similarities when sharing the same poetic zone, in terms of the spirituality of our countries, how common dances and gestuality in Cubans, Granadians, Haitians or Barbadeans are. I also wanted to search for some outstanding figures from Caribbean Literature's contribution, highlighting George Lamming, great narrator, poet Edouard Glissant from Martinica and poet and narrator René Depestre from Haití. These writers, from their poetical Caribbean vision and from some historical reflexion, help us to underline this zone we share in common in our spirituality, in our identities, the dance.

Do you consider your film Yo soy del Son a la Salsa is a precursor of the later avalanche of movies about Cuban music?

Maybe it would sounds a little immodest, anyway, other people are already talking about this. Yo soy del Son a la Salsa, in some way, opened a door and called the attention over a working line within the movie, where Cuban music and musicians are the key part. No film with this characteristics was made before. It tell us about a history running from the Cuban Son's origins in Cuban oriental mountains to the danceable music internationally well-known as Salsa, having the particularity of being narrated through many figures who made this music famous all over the world: Cubans, New York latins, Puerto Ricans, Venezuelans as Oscar D'León can talk about this topic.

This film premiere in Havana was a real event. It was constantly receiving ovations along its projection... well the film was not so ovationed but the characters who appeared in it, those characters in which the public found identification, what they said, the statements the film was making through them.

Yo soy del Son a la Salsa, didn't has the international difussion it was supposed to have: a film having nine international prizes, gaining the main prizes along the festival of documental movie all world wide, being featured in addition in special projections out of contest in outstanding festivals, highlighting San Sebastian Festival or Toronto's....

Unfortunately, the movie producer, Sr Ralph Mercado, owner of RMM Enterprise, started a litigation due to a demand from a Puerto Rican composer, because a theme of him appeared without his consent. I used it like so many others, with great love for this music and for what this music could means as a high value testimony of strength not only of our music but also of Latin's identity. Holding these ideas I made the film and used all the themes included, with the generosity of all. None asked for a cent and all of them gave their consent. In the case of this Puerto Rican musician there was a misunderstanding. It's been said I could use it and I did it. It was lamentable for the movie -not for this Sr, because he gained the litigation- all this contributed to stop the international difussion of Yo soy del Son a la Salsa. Just around this period appeared a documental made, as it's well-known now, by the notable director Wim Wenders about Buena Vista Social Club project.

Ry Cooder and Wim Wenders are foreign, while you have feed yourself from this music since your early times... What's your opinion about the Cuban music portray's rigor or depth offered in Buena Vista Social Club movie?

I have always preferred not to answer this kind of questions.... for respect to Wenders and because the great difussion of the movie has favored our music. However, I have very personal opinions with which I just wanted to be discrete because the are critics, they can be resumed by saying that Wenders and Ry Cooder's vision about our reality and the treatment conferred by Buena Vista Social Club to these characters, I am not really agree with them. I think that the awy in which the movie was narrated wants to say: here we are a group of forgotten musicians, great quality musicians and look the marvelous disk they can record.... with us, that have come to rescue them from the forgetfulness.

but I've wondered so many times if the main theme of this documental is to tell us the history of a forgotten luminary musicians -or not fashionable- and how they record a wonderful disk, Why the cars present in the film are 40s, 50s cars in a city where there are all types, from the 40s, 50s but also from 80s and 90s where the whole images area deteriorate vision of our environment, everything seems a little sordid, ugly, faded, discouraged, nostalgic. I believe in the existence of a nostalgic emphasis, that's is why I'm asking myself, Why this way of making documentals?, because, it's very curious the way in which Ry Cooder and his child are wearing all those tropical shirts full of palms, very vaporous, driving a Russian motocycle, like the ones we usually see on Russian films... There are some shades in that documental i certainly don't share at all...

I must confess it shocked me to see some of our musicians walking by Manhattan and then see Wim Wenders showing them with the expression: ''Ah, this is real life...''I am one of the amazed persons about this city, but Wenders or any other involved in movie affairs, know that it's not only what things are expressing, but how and where they are expressed... There I perceive a paternalistic shade. I din't want to be so explicit because I admire and respect the man who made Paris Texas, as a good example, but if you insist I can't keep on avoiding an opinion I stated honestly, far from any evil intention.

There's a version of history stating Son -as an slavery epoch's music- was so not well appreciated in some Revolution stage that was preferable to impel Nueva Trova Movement... Is it real the fact these musicians were forgotten?

Let's say things as they really are. A singer of my preference, Ibrahim Ferrer, named sometimes as the Cuban Nat King Cole, was never a star in the Cuban music of 50s, or 60s, not even in the 70s. Ibrahim Ferrer was chorus singer from Chepín Choven Orchestra and then in Pacho Alonso's. It seems now fantastic to me the fact we can enjoy him as soloist, but to believe we are in front of a man that managed to achieve great fame during Benny Moré, Miguelito Cuní or Tito Gómez's epochs is far from reality. It's fair to state Ibrahim Ferrer was not a luminary at that times. It's not about someone having great celebrity who was forgotten. Certainly, the Cuban traditional music was relegated before the new rhythms avalanche. New generations preferred these new rhythms and at the same time, it was a wrong viewpoint from broadcasters, traditional music lost certain accent, something regrettable in my opinion.

I think the re-launching of all these musicians is fair. There should be no contraditions among the most contemporary groups achieving high quality such as Van Van, Adalberto Alvarez y su Son and other examples from our luminaries in our Cuban traditional music. Van Van also deserves a good film because Juan Formell managed to convert this orchestra on the leader in a dancers country for 30 years, marking the avant-garden in Cuban danceable popular music.

I believe we are witnessing great moments at Cuban music and culture in general. I admit there were more less long periods of mistakes, where contemporary music, Nueva Trova and further danceable groups left behind all those yesteryear melodies. Anyway, generations bring its own melodies. Culture and culture market are a pendular phenomenon. I am among those thinking we are going over more sentimental moments again, -I wish it could happen forever- and an important part of this spirituality so vital for men is in Cuban traditional music, is in those extraordinary elders who are attracking public's attention from all over the world, becuase, sometimes, without understand what is Omara singuing with Ibrahim ''silencio, que están durmiendo los nardos y las azucenas'', there are women crying in Paris or Stockholm.


When do you feel the necessity of making Puerto Principe Mio?

As I said before, since many years ago, I been very close to Caribbean and in the Caribbean, Haiti is a must-reference. I always say, it's like a romantic relation I had with Haiti. I was remembering the deep influence Haiti had in Carpentier having that great outcome that is El reino de este mundo or the influence Nicolás Guillén had in this land. Lam considered it as an ever-pending theme.

Persons heading the comission for 250 anniversary in Puerto Principe decided that a documental about the dramatic situation of the city was necessary and they were very kind inviting me to do it. It was an outcome from a Cuban team -cameramen, sound technicians and Haitian collaborators, the production work and researches was made by two Haitian women having the consultanship of, Frantz Voltaire, great friend, who invited me personally to direct Puerto Príncipe Mio.

There are many women at Puerto Príncipe Mio, are you specially interested in the Haitian woman theme?

In Haiti, particularly, women is playing a leading role. The great protagonist of the Haitian traditional society is the woman. Woman in Haiti is what is called in vudu terms Potomitan, it is a trunk erected at the central area where vudu rites are celebrated. This Potomitan is the centre of all that culture. Haitian woman is the Potomitan from Haitian family: the ascendency she has over the family, over the children, is outstanding. In terms of day-to-dayness practice, she is the one who suffer the most. Haitian woman is working selling this or that in Puerto Principe or seeding, she takes care of children, managed herself to feed her family, makes the housework... she is the daily heroine in the Haitian odyssey, towards to her converge all the elements from Haitian drama having a huge strength, that's why she has a privilegedly place in the documental.

There is also a key scene in which the Haitian man is present with all his pathos: the scene of the man with a wagon who was trapped in a hole...

This scene is for me the synthesis of the Haitian drama. When this documental was exhibited in the International Seminar of Caribbean Miths at Casa de las Americas, it gained a favorable appraisal. Some people asked me: What is in your opinion the best solution for Haiti?. You can imagine. First of all, I had to explain I'm not a politician: I'm a poet, but I'm just going to talk about my own documental, the scene of the man falling into a huge black and dirty hole full of mud, attempting to get free of that place with his load but he can't, he has to wait for another car to hit him in the back and help him to go out, it's in my opinion a great metaphor of what is happening in Haiti. He can't do it by himself. That's why I made that documental. It attempts to sensitize the international public opinion, international financial enterprises, intellectuality all over the world, urbanist, architects and ecologists, about a not-so-known theme, because Puerto Principe is not a very known topic. Many and many friends from Latin America were amazed with what they saw, but Haiti is in Latin America, Haiti is in the Caribbean.

This project showed once again, out of any rhetoric, the image value, how useful is a documental to reveal something like that. I wonder myself how could be describe, in literary terms, a drama this documental is revealing? I think, it must be seen to believe it.

Someone refused to be filmed?

Sometimes we arrived to somewhere, let's see, the market, for example, and many people were covering their faces with their hands avoiding to be filmed or sometimes, they become agressive, hiding their faces. But there's an explanation for all this: they are simply weary to be used as an object, to be filmed as exotic animals.
They reject all possible offense, but when some persons from our team talked to them and explain we were Cubans, things changed. There were receptivity and great sympathy. We could also perceive a deep national pride, because they feel a great admiration, respect and love for Cuba. We must remember the large historic-cultural relation between the two countries and the great amount of Haitian inmigrants living in Cuba, cutting sugar cane at Cuban harvests, settled at oriental zones in Camagüey.... and today we can't forget the work of Cuban doctors in Haiti, where they are revered because they are making a very admirable labor.

Talk about your projects at Science Fiction Films

I always wanted to make science fiction, but regarding to methods or policies to determine who
make science fiction, these winds are not blowing to me... Nevertheless, I never quick making movie and thanks to this, here it is a work allowing me the possibility of making a full-length film to be named Roble de olor. It is a very Caribbean film, running through the poetic of the real-wonderful inspired in a real love story, taken as a starting point to build a fiction speech. It is having a script made by myself and the excellent Cuban theater man Eugenio Hernández Espinosa, inspired a chronicle by Leonardo Padura, a Cuban writer who narrated the anecdote of a black woman coming from Saint Domingue and a German, who founded what became the biggest coffee plantation in the occidental part, conceding the narration of a history attempting to make an utopic speech against intolerance and about possibilities and risk at an utopian construction. We have elaborated also with this playwright El rescate de Sanguily, a script inspired in an episode from our independentists wars performed by the outstanding Ignacio Agramonte.

* Researcher and Spanish professor of Languages, Linguistic and Literature Department at University of Occidental Antilles in Barbados.

Courtesy of Cine Cubano Magazine