"Therefore, the festivals main goal is to encourage a libertarian and highly creative cinema, far from the push of the mainstream market," he said.

Tribute will be paid to filmmakers Enrique Pineda Barnet and the late Octavio Cortázar.
"I can highly praise a multimillion film as long as it is a masterpiece and the director was not forced to make concessions," he recently revealed in a TV interview. "I have made the two biggest co-productions in Cuban cinema and my role as a director was never sullied. I worked in an atmosphere of total respect to my rights as a filmmaker, though this is not a situation that always luckily happens."

Solás stressed the concept that a low-budget cinema can look for certain analogies as long as the filmmaker is not forced to make concessions, as long as the director uses a small budget that doesnt affect public funds, and as long as he/she doesnt involve many institutions in the making.

"Thus, I can ascertain that the filmmakers will feel a lot of freedom and, in most cases, they will be able to show their artistry without limitations," he said.

This year, the organizing committee of the 6th Low-budget Film Festival received eight hundred and forty five works from all continents and chose a hundred and twenty to be screened.

The festival will also debate about drama, still photography, and the current situation and future perspectives of alternative audiovisuals.

An exhibit of fine arts will also be displayed and, according to Sergio Benvenuto, the director of the festival, one of the main features this year is that the city of Camagüey will join in the fest, plus Holguín and Santiago de Cuba, which were already included in previous events.

"We are fulfilling our dream of granting the fest an itinerant character," he proudly said.

Music is also one of the main ingredients of the festival. The bill this year includes musicians Raúl Paz, Rochy, Harold López-Nussa, Aldo López Gavilán, Haydée Milanés, Polito Ibáñez, and David Blanco, plus headliner Carlos Varela, a very popular singer/songwriter who has played at the fest every year.

Tribute will be paid to filmmakers Enrique Pineda Barnet, National Award in Cinematography, and the late Octavio Cortázar, as well as to choreographer Ramiro Guerra, considered the founder of Cuban modern dance.

Solás also revealed the news about his latest film production. "The working title is Guanajay. It is about the present times in Cuba, and it is part of the trilogy that I started with Miel para Ochún and followed with Barrio Cuba. I have named it "The peoples trilogy." I think its the epilogue of a time in history that tells the difficulties and the Cubans will to survive these harsh years."

"But in the horizon you can spot new promising perspectives that will be the epilogue of those times in my cinema," he concluded.

(Cubanow.net)