Description
(Un)staging the city: Havana & the Music Film (1999-2005)In the 1990s, so-called “authentic” visual representations of Cuba and Havana acquired a “distinct aesthetic quality” (Hernandez-Reguant 2009) as the proliferation of Cuban images on a global scale (presented by western image-makers) threatened to suffocate arguably more realistic depictions of cubanidad from the perspective of Cubans at home and abroad. This essay will discuss the use of different documentary and filmic modes employed by western music-filmmakers in a series of films released in the wake of, and in the years following, the Cuban Special Period, whilst also exploring their different, and at times opposing, visualisations of both cubanidad and the city of Havana. By drawing upon these texts as western manifestations of a Cuban sense of indigeneity and representations of a “real” Havana, this essay will also focus on the spatial representation of the city in the music film, as well as scrutinising the production, inscription and consumption of different visual narratives which continue to be played out within the global imaginary.
| Period | 19 Mar 2013 → 20 Mar 2013 |
|---|---|
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Aberystwyth, United KingdomShow on map |