AfroCubaWeb

Contacting Gloria Rolando Boletín de Cultura Afrohispana No 4 de 2008 (PDF, 726kb)  Gloria Rolando, subrayando la imagen afrocaribeña. Entrevista: "Soy negra, me siento muy orgullosa de eso." Gloria Rolando on panels at Latin American Studies Association, Montreal, 9/6/2007 Gloria Rolando presents My Footsteps in Baraguá in Toronto, 9/11/07 Long time Imagines del Caribe co-producer, cameraman, and special effects expert Gilberto Martinez now in the US, available for presentations. 9/06.  He has the roster of films with him, including the yet to be commercially released The Jazz in Us Cuban Delegation to Visit Sithengi, South Africa, 10/23/05 Gloria Rolando entrevisada por Yesenia Fernandez Selier, 3/05 Trotter Group coverage of Gloria, 6/02 Foto Gallery: Raices, El Alacran, Baragua, Eye of the Rainbow Interview: Raices Negras, Aliento Universal, Gloria entrevistada por Mercedes Santos Testimonial Speech at Black Women Writers and the Future May 6th, 2001 was Gloria Rolando Day in Oakland. She was in the middle of her 2001 Tour.

Order Gloria's videos - 2008   Gloria Rolando Gloria Rolando's career spans over 20 years at ICAIC, the Cuban national film institute. She now also heads an independent film-making group, Imagines del Caribe, based in Havana. Many of her films are available through AfroCubaWeb and include, in chronological order: 1) "Oggun: An Eternal Presence," 1991, on the Orisha Oggun, the god of war and peace, metals, and civilization, as experienced in the life of Lazaro Ros, the prominent Cuban Yoruba singer and founding member of the Conjunto Folklorico Nacional: 52 mn, with English subtitles. An homage to those who have anonymously preserved the heritage of the African Yoruba religion in Cuba up to the present. Has English subtitles. Available, with English subtitles VHS, DVD 2) "My Footsteps in Baragua," 1996, on the history in Cuba of an extensive West Indian community (consisting of people from Jamaica, Barbados, & many others): 53 mn, in English or Spanish. Available in English & Spanish, with English subtitles. VHS, DVD  See also the  West Indian Welfare Center and its programs, related to the film. This independent institution is located in the city of Guantanamo (not the US base!) and is charted to provide social and medical services among other activities. The Center recently celebrated its 50th anniversary and today includes many professional members. 3) "Eyes of the Rainbow," 1997, a film on Assata Shakur, the Black Panther and Black Liberation Army leader who took refuge in Cuba after years of struggles in the US. The film integrates AfroCuban culture, including the Orisha Oya, to show Assata's context in Cuba, where she has lived for close to 20 years. In English. Released commercially through happybirthdayassata.org 4) "El Alacrán / The Scorpion," 2000, 19 mn, deals with the carnaval in Havana and one comparsa especially, El Alacrán, which was founded in 1908 and dedicated to Yemaya.  Available, with English subtitles. VHS, DVD. 5) "Raices de Mi Corazon/Roots of My Heart," 2001, feature film on the 1912 genocide when over 6,000 members of the Independents of Color, the first black political party outside of Haiti, were massacred by the Cuban Army. This independently produced feature film follows a young woman as she finds out about her families roots, which includes disturbing revelations around the 1912 Genocide (El Doce). 51 min. Available with English subtitles. VHS 6) "Los Marqueses de Atarés," 2003, a documentary about another Havana comparsa, or carnival group, which continues her group's strategy of rescuing and preserving afrocuban cultural expressions. 46 min. Very well received in the Atarés neighborhood and other centers such as the Conjunto Folklorico Nacional. In Spanish. Premiered in 2002, available in Spanish only, but worth getting even if you don't know Spanish -- many great Carnaval scenes. Available in VHS, DVD 7) "Nosotros y el Jazz / The Jazz in Us,"  2004.  The goal of this documentary is to relate a chapter in the history shared by Afrocubans and African Americans through their common culture. English subtitles. Not released commercially. 8) “Pasajes Del Corazón y La Memoria” (Historias de Cubanos y Caimaneros), 2007. English: Cherished Island Memories. The story of the founding of Jacksonville, Isle of Youth, Cuba, by immigrants from the Cayman Islands. Release coming soon with English subtitles. Links

Biography, list of films Interview in "Women," Havana, 1996

Spring 2001 US Tour Fall '99 Tour US Tour: Oct/Nov '98 Paris: July '98 US Tour: Feb - April '98 US Tour: Aug - Oct '97 US Tour:1996

Contacting Gloria Rolando Obtaining Gloria's videos Interview for Adventure Divas

Today's Cuba contains priceless survivals of African cultures, both from the mother continent and the diaspora: Yoruba, Congo, Dahomey, Efik/Efo (Niger Delta), Jamaica, the Bahamas, Haiti, and others. Each community has maintained its identity through language, music, dance, religion, and membership organizations such as cabildos and the West Indian Welfare Center. The transmission of these cultures continues through the younger generations and will be enhanced with a series of documentaries that Gloria has planned.

More information:

• An interview with Gloria in "Mujeres" ("Women"), 1996, published in Havana. This describes the Oggun video, available with English subtitles, and a proposed film on Sara Gomez, noted AfroCuban movie maker.
• Historias de mis abuelas: work in progress on the black organizations in Cuba
• A Biographical Notice of Gloria Rolando with an extensive portfolio listing and a statement of purpose.

Gloria Rolando's films shown in Toronto Movie Theatre, Kingston Cinema, 9/07

Cinema Kingston heads out on high note 
Lynn Rees Lambert 
Local News - Wednesday, September 12, 2007 Updated @ 3:35:28 PM 

Cinema Kingston is focusing on a musical note this fall when the once a month Sunday features highlight the theme of music and musicals from around the world. Up first, Sunday, Sept. 16, is Roots of My Heart and Eyes of the Rainbow by Cuban director Gloria Rolando. The director will be at the screening. 

"Raíces de mi corazon" (Roots of my heart), an independently produced short feature film, deals with the 1912 massacre of many thousands of members of the Independents of Colour,the hemisphere’s first black political party outside Haiti. Eyes of the Rainbow considers the life of Assata Shakur, the Black Panther and Black Liberation Armyleader who escaped from prison and was given political asylum in Cuba, where she has lived for close to 15 years. 

Rolando’s career spans over 20 years and she heads an independent filmmaking group, Imagines del Caribe, based in Havana.  Cinema Kingston is sponsored by the Department of Film Studies at Queen’s University and is part of the Toronto International Film Festival Group’s Film Circuit.

Gloria Rolando on panels at Latin American Studies Association, Montreal 
September 6, 2007

520 // LIA011 Panel Thursday Sep 6 6:00 - 7:45 pm St-Laurent - Hilton
La mujer cubana en el cine y en las artes
Organizer : Flora Gonzalez-Mandri, Emerson College
Chair(s) : Flora Gonzalez-Mandri, Emerson College

De la memoria a la actualidad en las obras de Rolando y Jiménez: Flora Gonzalez-Mandri, Emerson College

La creación de Imágenes del Caribe: Gloria Rolando, ICAIC, CUBA
Discussant(s) : Nancy Morejón, Casa de las Américas, CUBA

See lasa.international.pitt.edu/congress/documents/LASA2007Program/LASA2007-Thursday.pdf for more details.

545 // LIA045 Panel Friday Sep 9 10:00 - 11:45 am Silver West 1 - Normandie

Raza e Historia en Raices de mi corazón de Gloria Rolando: Flora González-Mandri, Emerson College
See lasa.international.pitt.edu/lasa2006_archive/2006program/LASA2006-Friday.pdf for more details.

Gloria Rolando presents My Footsteps in Baraguá in Toronto, 9/11/07

SEE  THE FILM & MEET THE FILMMAKER

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2007, 7 P.M.
WILLIAM DOO AUDITORIUM, NEW COLLEGE, U
45 WILLCOCKS STREET
(SOUTHEAST CORNER OF SPADINA AND HURON)
Toronto, Ontario

In the municipality of Baraguá, in the province of Ciego de Avila, Cuba, the stories and customs of the English-speaking West Indians and their descendants still remain alive. Today, they are a part of Cuba. For some, there is always the nostalgia for the country to which they will never return; others believe their culture is totally part of today’s Cuba. Gloria Rolando’s poetic documentary is an important contribution to the history of the Afro Cuban people, and to the study of the African diaspora in the Caribbean.   See My Footsteps in Baraguá

Gloria Rolando entrevisada por Yesenia Fernandez Selier, 3/05

La mañana rebosaba de luz y voces en el barrio de Colon ese día en que Gloria Rolando me recibió en su casa para hablar sobre la última de sus obras: “Nosotros y el Jazz”. En ella cuenta la historia de un grupo de hombres y mujeres que allá por los cuarenta se unieron en la pasión común de degustar una música foránea. Gloria una vez más, oficia el ritual de colocar nuevos monumentos en los mapas de la memoria afrocubana, mostrando otra zona del tejido vital y complejo que la compone.  Y.S. ¿Que te motivó a indagar sobre los bailadores de Jazz? Quería hacer algo sobre las sociedades de color, sobre la vida social del negro en Cuba en la República, que es un capítulo desconocido fuera de la memoria familiar. La gente parecía sentía esos espacios como propios, a pesar de la segregación, esos lugares eran una fuente de orgullo y de respeto para ellos. Escuche hablar de las sociedades a mi abuela que era de Santa Clara. ¡Fíjate tú, donde en el parque Vidal, los negros iban para un lado y los blancos por el otro! Mi abuela, que limpiaba piso pero nunca se repetía un vestido de un domingo a otro. Tenía recuerdos muy emotivos de los bailes de la Unión Fraternal y de otras similares. Pensé en algún momento hacer algo sobre " Marianao Social", pero cuando me acerqué a lo que queda de él se me cayó el alma porque me di cuenta que era algo muerto, algo que ya no iba a ser.  Había oído hablar de Gilberto Valdés y su grupo. A partir de un primer encuentro en la UNEAC me di cuenta que era una amistad que había durado todo una vida. No tenía recursos ni el tiempo para hacer una investigación muy larga. El día del cumpleaños de Gilberto los conocí un poco más de cerca, empecé a probar y a filmar de este grupo. Tocaba en “La Zorra y El Cuervo” el grupo Jazz Generation Classic, conseguimos un permiso y se iniciaron las grabaciones. A partir de este grupo, porque no les gusta el Latin Jazz, comenzaron a hilvanarse las entrevistas. La base de las imágenes de “La Zorra y el Cuervo”, me empezó a meter en el ambiente. Comenzamos a reunirnos a las casas y fueron apareciendo los temas: como empezaron a escuchar esta música, como llegaba esa música a Cuba, los lugares donde se reunían y la historia de su amistad. La zona del puerto de la Habana era donde se forjaba esa cultura, esa música no la escuchaban en la radio u otros sitios. Iban escondidos de sus familias, tenían 16 o 17 años. Llegar allí era como la graduación para un bailador, de esta manera comenzamos a revivir una época, a respirarla. Y.S.¿Cómo era la reacción del medio social a este tipo de afiliación? Todos eran bailadores de música cubana, pero además cuando empiezan a oír esta, comienzan a seguirla sin dejar de bailar en las sociedades, donde introducen esta música y este estilo de baile, por ellos supe que en no pocas sociedades se bailaba el Jazz. En el documental se recoge el momento en que Gilberto escucha por primera vez esta música, saliendo del Isora Club, donde iba La Orquesta Aragón frecuentemente y oye a Gillespie en un victrola y se fascina. Ellos no estaban aislados, también estaban vinculados por otra parte con el movimiento del Filling. Yo quise tambien enfatizar que ser bailador no era ser barco, ni antisocial, ellos eran obreros, estudiantes, a las muchachas había que acompañarlas a sus casas. Y.S. ¿Cuál fue el peso de la cinematografía para el desarrollo de este grupo? El fotógrafo Azcuy formaba parte de este grupo y gracias a eso existe alguna memoria tangible de ellos. Pero no habiendo una cinematografía cubana amplia y teniendo en cuanta los roles que desempeñaban los negros en ella, cuando llegan filmes norteamericanos como Stormy Whether, ver aquellos negros bailar, tan elegantes, con sus modas, sus peinados, eso fue un impacto tremendo, según tengo entendido hasta dentro de los Estados Unidos. Era un mundo fantástico, ellos lo sabían, pero eso los llenó, descubrieron valores estéticos. Nunca tuvimos películas así en medio de una sociedad segregada. Además más de la filmografía misma, ellos pudieron ver de cerca esas estrellas, aquí vinieron Catherin Durkheim, vieron danza moderna, Cab Calloway y los Nicholas Brothers, que se presentaron ese mismo Teatro Campoamor que ahora esta en ruinas. Ahí me di cuenta de la clase de Habana de la que me estaban hablando. La Habana era una capital artística. Aún cuando nací; el barrio donde nací, era todo música. La Habana era toda música en 1953.  Comprendí la necesidad de esas imágenes para el documental. Chester me las facilitó y las retuve, sin que ellos supieran. Se las puse un día buscando la sorpresa. Buscamos uno de ellos con un televisor grande y filmamos sus reacciones, nunca tuve un permiso de la Twenty Century Fox, pero eso no podía faltar ni por ellos, ni para aquellos que se asomen a conocer su historia. Y.S. Me llamo la atención el claro sentido racial que tenía para ellos esa música… Aquí se han limitado muchas nociones en aras de una historia nacional, de una cultura nacional. Solo les preguntaba porque el Jazz y así salía el sentido racial, de “okokkan” como ellos mismo dicen. Se ha querido siempre lograr y demostrar que el negro cubano no tiene conciencia de su negritud, ellos demuestran que no es así. Y.S. Gloria, hasta el momento; ¿cuántas presentaciones se han hecho del documental y cual ha sido el apoyo recibido? El documental ha tenido dos presentaciones una en el Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes y otra en la U.N.E.A.C. Bueno una presentación en Bellas Artes que tuvimos que suspender por problemas con el aire acondicionado, el Teatro estaba abarrotado, en todas las presentaciones el publico ha sido tremendo y muy participativo en los debates. Nosotros tuvimos solo apoyo del ICAIC en cuanto al sonido. En cuanto se hizo la reunión de producción, nos preguntaron: “¿Y qué ganamos nosotros con facilitarles las consolas? Nosotros preguntamos: “¿Qué les interesaría? Nos respondieron: “Queremos la distribución nacional”. Sin embargo la copia original que les enviamos duerme en la oficina de Isabel Prendes sin comentario alguno. Y.S. Algún agradecimiento especial…. Para mi equipo técnico siempre, que es maravilloso. A través de nuestro trabajo han descubierto cosas que no sabían, por ponerte un ejemplo, con "Las raíces de mi corazón", Ellos desconocían completamente la historia sobre Los Independientes de Color y la masacre. Nunca han cuestionado los temas que trabajo a pesar de la intensidad con que lo hemos hecho y la poca recompensa. Los resultados están ahí, estoy contenta con la fotografía de este documental. Fotografiar gente negra es una cosa muy difícil, que salga la textura, pero ahí se ven los sudores, cosas que creo que ni siquiera ellos mismos saben pero que lo han ido descubriendo.  La conversación es inacabable a la sombra esta mujer fresca y sin edad. Ya la tarde hunde sus brazos rosa en la ciudad cuando vuelvo a las calles bulliciosas. “Nosotros y el Jazz”, tiene el don de inquietar persistentemente, puesto que abre el corredor hacia zonas aparentemente discontinuas en el panorama de la cultura nacional; estigmatizadas por su cobertura mimética, como la escena del rap actual; que forman parte de los puentes invisibles de la diáspora africana. En Cuba estas expresiones identitarias particulares hablan también de la pertenencia a una nación negra trasnacional, enardeciendo una memoria apisonada con saña sobre nuestro el común origen de todas sus recreaciones culturales en el Nuevo Mundo. Se trata de que ese Jazz es muy nuestro, tan bantú, tan yoruba , como todo lo que nos habita.

Chorus Of Praises, Counterpoint Of Whispers
By Lonnae O'Neal Parker, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, June 27, 2004; Page D01

The revolution has covered many of their basic needs, but what about the deep-seated needs of young educated Cubans to get beyond the basics?

This is the challenge of their times, says 51-year-old Cuban filmmaker Gloria Rolando. In 2000 she made a film about the Cuban army's 1912 massacre of 6,000 blacks in southern Cuba who were demanding an end to policies of racial discrimination. Rolando, who was 7 when Castro came to power, says Cuban families and communities must remember how the society treated poor people and people of color before the revolution. That even if things are bad now, they used to be worse. When her grandmother was young, Rolando says, blacks were forced to walk around their local park; only whites were allowed to walk through.

As for shortages: "The young generation wants material things -- 'I want this, I want that,' " she says. "My mother is 77 and she is now inside the university for older people. I don't have the latest fashions in clothes or shoes, but I have the example of my mother and she continues struggling and learning."

www.granma.cu/ingles/2004/julio/mier14/chorus-i.html

Trotter Group Coverage of Gloria Rolando, 6/02

Gloria met at the end of May with African American columnists from the Trotter Group,  who were visiting Cuba. She is featured in several of their columns:

Castro or not, Cuba would have had a revolution in race relations  5/30/02 Louisville Courier Journal: While the title may be a little optimistic, as anyone who has visited Miami knows, the columnist's heart is in the right place: "Indeed, a highlight of the Trotter Group's week-long visit to Cuba, my second trip to Cuba with the columnists' group, was meeting Cuban filmmaker Gloria Rolando. What an amazing personality. Rolando was forthcoming enough to say that Castro's 43 years in power haven't succeeded in bleaching negative color-consciousness out of Cuban society. She doesn't consider race as a side issue, as many Cubans do, but as central to her existence as a black Cuban, a woman and an artist. One of her films, "Raices de mi corazon," tells the story of the massacre in 1912 of more than 6,000 members of a political party formed by black veterans of Cuban's two liberation wars against Spain in 1908. The party, Independents of Color, was a response to the marginalization of black Cubans." 

U.S. blind to true colors of Cuba's problems  5/30/02 USA Today: "Gloria Rolando's short film, Roots of My Heart, ought to be required viewing in the White House. Made without the support of the government-run organization that sanctions and finances much of this island's movie industry, her film is the story of the massacre of more than 6,000 people on this Caribbean island, a brutal episode that took place long before Fidel Castro came to power. But the story that Rolando tells is the key to understanding why Castro remains hugely popular among this island's 11 million people and why they largely mistrust Cuban exile leaders in the United States." 

Black journalists get close-up view of Cuba  6/11/02 Final Call: "The week included a symposium with Cuban journalists, press conferences with Ricardo Alarcon, president of the Cuban parliament, and Ruben Remigio, president of the Cuban Supreme Court, tours of Granma newspaper, the Cuban radio and TV institute and a private session with Cuban filmmaker Gloria Rolando."

Gloria Rolando Documentary at UWM (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee), April 26, 2002

Update on Raices de mi corazon, El Alacrán 2/11/01

Word is in from Havana: historian Tomas Robaina introduced Raices at the Biblioteca Nacional.  Gisela Arandia is introducing it shortly at the UNEAC and it will also be shown at the Union de Periodistas, the Reporters' Union. The buzz made its way to Cuban television and radio, which reported favorably on its release. See Roots of My Heart Premieres in Havana, 2/11, by Gloria Rolando

El Alacrán has just been re-released with English subtitles, giving us subtitles or English version on all of Gloria's movies except for Raices. Gloria is prepared to give an introduction in English to Raices and also lead a discussion in English afterwards. In addition, we will shortly have an extensive summary of the film in English for distribution before the tour.

Gloria is now at work on a new film, Historias de mis abuelos, another independent production deals with the black organizations in Cuba that pre-date 1959 and have their roots in the 19th century. She will be promoting this project in her Spring 2001 tour.

Testimonial from 1997 US Tour

"As you may know I was very impressed with Gloria Rolando as an Afro-Cuban female filmmaker. I feel fortunate to have been able to interview her on my radio program, "In Unison," while she was in Boston, Massachusetts. The quality and technical level of her films is excellent, I have seen "The Eyes of the Rainbow and "Oggun" and when it is considered how difficult conditions are in Cuba due to the economic embargo imposed by this country, the United States of America, one cannot help but give her and her production crew a standing ovation for persevering under such duress. Ms. Rolando has taken a compelling subject, Assata Shakur, and presented her in a very human light that incorporates her spirit to live in an inter-generational fashion. She has blended past, present, and future to give us an unique view into the present day circumstances of a controversial figure. Gloria Rolando's expertise can be felt in the way she blended images of nature and culture into her description of Assata Shakur. As Ms. Rolando tours the United States with her film I hope that anyone that reads these comments and is not yet convinced that they need to change their schedules, bring their friends and see this new work of Ms. Rolando and her production crew realizes that they are wrong....and yes they do need to see..."The Eyes of the Rainbow," not once but again, again, and again. Thank you Gloria and Assata Shakur." -- Nina LaNegra, host, "Say It Loud," WILD radio, Boston, currently at BlackTalk Radio, www.realblacktalk.com

Adventure Diva Interview

Adventure Divas - Cuba: Paradox Found       Holly Morris tours Cuba and spotlights several people, including rap group Instinto, filmmaker Gloria Rolando and     former Black Panther Assata Shakur.     Parental guidance rating: TVPG See www.adventuredivas.com for more info.

Links to Gloria Rolando material on the web

Interview dans Editions Temps Libres (Francais)
http://www.cinema.presse.fr/racine/interview_de_gloria_rolando.htm

Adventure Diva interview
http://www.adventuredivas.com

Contacting Gloria Rolando

When in Cuba, Gloria Rolando can be reached at home by phone at tel: 011 53 7 867.69.36 and by mail at:

Obispo #356, 3ra piso, apto 3
Entre Habana y Compostela
Habana, Cuba 10100

Ordering Gloria's videos: help support her work - 2007

Help support Gloria's work! The Individual price is for home viewing. The price for Institutions is for viewing at a school, university, cultural center, or other institutional location. Special arrangements need to be made in order to offer these films to the general public. To order, use the PayPal buttons below or follow instructions below for other modes of payments.  With PayPal, you can use your Visa, Master Card, Discovery, or American Express card without registering at PayPal or letting us know your card number.

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Nosotros y el Jazz has not been commercially released, no copies are available.

Eyes of the Rainbow has been released through happybirthdayassata.org

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