Hip Hop Eye Candy

As the count down to Dec. 5 continues I wanted to show off some phat graffiti. I'm hoping to discover Cuba's hip hop art scene and will post what I find.

Enjoy!
LG

U.S. Customs & The Blockade

">With only a week to go before embarking on our journey to the 27th Nuevo Latinoamericano festival Nicole and I continue to deal with how the U.S. Embargo against Cuba, aka "the blockade," impacts travel to the island nation. We've been advised on protocol with U.S. Customs and will be traveling with phone numbers to lawyers who understand the embargo laws. A few years ago when I shot the documentary I experienced U.S. Customs when traveling from Mexico to the U.S. I was asked if I'd traveled to any place deemed dangerous and Cuba came up in the conversation. Note: it's illegal to lie to U.S. Customs, so when I was asked if I'd visited I told them that I spent a month there. That opened another bag of worms. I was asked if I'd spent any American currency during my stay. When I told the Customs Agent I shot a documentary I learned that there was a tape restriction, a fine line detail to the U.S. Embargo. I tell you, you never know how deep the restrictions go unless you have to deal with it. I learned that it was illegal to re-enter the U.S. after traveling from Cuba with more than 5 videotapes. I'd shot 30 tapes! Gulp.

Needless to say I was shocked and worried that my footage would be confiscated, which was just about to happen when the words "Cuba" and "video tapes" merged. As luck or fate (if you believe in the Kabbalah) would have it there was a bomb scare due to an unattended package left nearby. There was mad drama around that and this gave me the chance to regroup with my fellow U.S. Healthcare and Trade Union Delegates. I briefed them on what I'd learned and we divided the tapes between everyone. When I returned to another U.S. Customs Agent I declared my 5 tapes, and no one asked me if I had visited Cuba, so I re-entered the U.S. uneventfully. That day the delegates, healthcare workers & union organizers, also traveled to their respective homes carrying no more than 5 video tapes each. Over a few weeks the tapes were sent to me in Northern Cali from places like Canada and New York. I'm grateful to my travel mates for making that happen. This documentary has really been a grassroots effort from beginning to end.

Now that it has been a few years since my first trip to the island I understand that our country is prosecuting more American travelers heading to Cuba. I don't think there will be any drama with this trip, but we are preparing for a worse case scenario, and will be carrying numbers of lawyers and organizations familiar with dealing with the U.S. Embargo against Cuba. We are also considering using Euros to avoid the American currency issue.

Here's another example of how wack the embargo is. Because you can't mail things to Cuba, like put a stamp on a personal letter and post it via our bankrupted U.S. Postal system, Nicole and I have had to be creative and figure out ways around the restrictions. Fed Ex flat out can not mail anything because it's an American company even though it's international. Then there's DHL. Well, the great thing is that you can send things to Cuba via DHL, but it can only be small documents, and absolutely no video tapes. So what's up with the restriction of video tapes? After a lot of research I've learned that because Cuba is considered a "totalitarian government" (words straight from our U.S. State Department) that video tapes are deemed dangerous materials because secret information can be transported. Um? Bombs versus video tapes? Anyway, so to get the Bloodletting video screener to the festival coordinators in Cuba we relied on a network of supporters to get it there. There are people like Walter Lippman. Catherine Murphy. A couple of other folks I'll include later. The point is, I've learned how powerful old-fashioned methods are, like handing off a package and relying on someone to travel with it and then hand deliver it. That's how we got the video tape to the Cuba and Venezuelan film festivals. Here's just a last bit of info to prove how much the embargo is a pain. After Bloodletting was screened in the Venezuelan Documentary Festival this past November the Coordinator Ruben Capella agreed to help us by sending a Spanish subtitled copy to the Cuban coordinators, thus saving us loads of time, money, and difficulties meeting a deadline in Cuba. Well, the Venezuelans also could not send the video tape via Fed Ex in Caracas because the TAPE originated in the U.S. and is still restricted by the U.S. Embargo! The only way Venezuelan Film Festival Coordinators could send the video tape was via people; someone volunteered to take it with them on a trip to Cuba and hand deliver it before the festival deadline. That's what the embargo does, it makes it difficult to have a human connection with Cubans. Well, that's it for now. Stay tuned for more stories and future podcasts of the festival.

Peace & Regards,
Lorna

Nov. 22, 2005

It's a forte night before Nicole and I embark on our trek to the 27th Festival International Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, aka the Havana Film Festival. Yippeee!!! Bloodletting is one of many films being screened in Cuba, and it is an honor to be one filmmaker admist a bunch of an international filmmakers.

Thing is, since I was a kid growing up in the boogie down Bronx, I've always wanted to visit Cuba. It must be that island-bronx connection. Anyway when I got the chance to visit Cuba to make Bloodletting it was a dream come true, and I swore that I'd return to show my film. I feel lucky to have been chosen, and I feel quesy that it's all going on the credit cards! Ugh! But I know I'm making the right choice to go.

What I'm looking forward to is watching movies galore, though my Spanish sucks. I'm eager to check out Cuban hip hop. Palabra a la madre! Translation: Word to the Mother! And I'm excited to make a global connection while returning to Cuba to thank everyone for helping make Bloodletting happen. For everyone back in Estados Unidos (U.S.A.) who'll check out the blog and keep in touch with our trek, I want to say: thank you, thank you, thank you. Without your support and belief in the project I wouldn't be going.

Stay tuned for stories & reflections from la isla de Cuba!!!!

Peace,
Lorna