Explore some of the ways in which William & Mary has connected with Cuban media culture during the past quarter-century.
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1994
Students translate play by Cuban playwright José Milián
W&M students translate play by Cuban playwright José Milián as part of Hispanic Studies (formerly Spanish) theater seminar; their collaborative work is published in the Monitor.
Filmmaker Juan Carlos Cremata and producer Iraida López visit W&M
Cuba filmmaker Juan Carlos Cremata, recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, travels from New York City to visit W&M. He is joined by television producer Iraida López, with whom he goes on to create the acclaimed road movie Viva Cuba (2008). Cremata shares his thoughts on filmmaking with students in Hispanic Studies, and presents his humorous thesis short, Dark Caged Rhinoceroses.
1995
Filmmaker Fernando Pérez presents latest film
Filmmaker Fernando Pérez presents his film Madagascar and meets with W&M faculty and students.
2003
Non-profit Cuban Cinema Classics launches
Cuban Cinema Classics, a non-profit initiative subtitling and making available subtitled Cuban documentaries on DVD, launches. Numerous students team up to transcribe, translate and add subtitles to these works.
2004
Cuban filmmaker Orlando Rojas visits W&M
As part of the spring "Cuba-Culture-Politics" Hispanic 392 course, filmmaker Orlando Rojas visits William & Mary and discusses his experience working in Cuba’s film institute and reflects on his relocation to Miami.
Cuban Art Exhibit in Reves Center
A precursor to the exhibits in Swem Library, this faculty-student curated show brought together the work of four local artists. Connie DeSaulniers, Kathy Hornsby, Patricia Rapoport, and Karen Schwartz, who traveled to Cuba as part of the “Contemporary Cuba: So Near & Yet So Foreign?” study program. They were inspired to depict the island’s people and landscape in paintings and photographs. W&M students collaborate to curate the exhibit held in the Reves Center for International Studies.
2005
Filmmaker Humberto Solás visits W&M
The renowned director of Lucía (1968), Humberto Solás, visits W&M to share his filmmaking experiences with the campus and community.
2008
Mellon grant funds New Media Workshop
Mellon grant funds are awarded to Ann Marie Stock and Troy Davis for the creation of a New Media Workshop, a hands-on learning opportunity engaging undergraduates in high-impact practices while connecting with Cuba’s media culture. Projects include filmed interviews, exhibits of photographs and posters, web sites, and translations. The pair receive a follow-on grant and the Workshop becomes a regular offering in the Hispanic Studies and Film and Media Studies programs.
2009
Student documentary presented at the Havana Film Festival in New York
Two students employ footage that Ann Marie Stock and Troy Davis, Head of Media Services, shot of Cuban directors Karel Ducases and Alina Rodriguez and turn it into a documentary that Stock unveils at the 2009 Havana Film Festival of New York.
Miguel Coyula presents film at W&M Global Film Festival
Miguel Coyula presents his film Red Cockroaches (2003) at the W&M Global Film Festival. While on campus, he shoots a sequence for his next work, the acclaimed Memories of Development. New Media Workshop students and faculty appear as extras in the sequence filmed in the Kimball Theater.
New Media Workshop students present at conference
New Media Workshop students present their projects at an undergraduate humanities conference at Longwood University. Jessica Boten ‘10, Todd Corillo ‘10 and Steven Linett ‘12 impress the audience with “¡Luces, cámara, acción! Disseminating the work of the Cuban film industry.”
2010
Laimir Fano presents at the W&M Global Film Festival
Laimir Fano participates in the W&M Global Film Festival with his award-winning thesis short, Ode to the Pineapple (2008). Fano joins the W&M community as the Tutor in the Casa Hispánica student residence.
2011
Special Collections acquires new Cuban materials
Professor Ann Marie Stock, through her travels to Cuba, continues to collect new materials to add to W&M Libraries' collection. On behalf of Special Collections, Stock purchases a large collection of film posters, for which her class provides descriptions and translations. Special Collections also begins archiving Cuban film websites to add to a digital collection of online materials.
Gustavo Pérez photography exhibit opens in Swem Library
W&M undergraduates in the “Cuba-Culture-Curate” installment of the New Media Workshop curate an exhibit of photographs by filmmaker-photographer Gustavo Pérez. The exhibit opens in Swem Library during a showcase of student work featuring original interviews, web sites and documentaries.
Director Alfredo Ureta and Producer Susel Ochoa visit W&M
Alfredo Ureta (director) and Susel Ochoa (producer) share their experiences making films and music videos while visiting W&M. Ann Marie Stock and Troy Davis interview them for the W&M Libraries’ growing collection of Cuban Media.
Filmmaker Alysa Nahmias participates in Theories of Visual Culture Course
New-York-based filmmaker Alysa Nahmias, co-director of Unfinished Spaces, participates remotely in a session of the Theories of Visual Culture course. She discusses with students the process of co-directing this documentary examining the Instituto Superior del Arte in Havana.
W&M Libraries creates digital archive of online materials
W&M Libraries Special Collections begins archiving websites related to Cuban film in an effort to document and preserve these online materials.
https://archive-it.org/collections/7388bc1f-05f4-4753-8beb-ddb8e3352677
2012
Cuban documentarians to show, discuss film on campus
Documentary filmmakers María Elena Pérez and Duniesky Cantón Fernández, students at Cuba’s renowned Instituto Superior de Arte, show their film on living conditions in Cuba and engage in a panel discussion of Cuban life and film-making. https://www.wm.edu/offices/revescenter/news/2012/cuban-documentarians-to-show,-discuss-film.php
Monroe Scholar Sonja Pavoir translates Insausti script
As part of a summer research project, student Sonja Pavoir translates the script for Esteban Insausti’s latest film titled Club de Jazz. Cuban films struggle to reach the attention of international audiences, and translating them is one way to help spark the interest from producers in other countries.
2013
Filmmaker and poet Oneida González visits campus
The Hispanic Studies program hosts filmmaker and poet Oneida González. Two of her films premiere during October, and she also visits the Mapping Cuba class. Students get the opportunity to interview her as well as subtitle one of her short films as part of their coursework.
2014
W&M hosts filmmaker Carlos Rodríguez
William & Mary welcomes Cuban filmmaker Carlos Rodríguez to its campus as the Swem Library Media Artist in Residence. While in residence during the month of April, Rodríguez presents his work to students in a variety of classes and to the greater community in a series of events. He also collaborates with students and faculty working on audiovisual projects.
2015
Making Cuba connections: A U.S. academic library builds bridges
W&M Libraries’ extensive commitment to Cuban culture showcased in article published in College & Research Libraries News. https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.77.10.9566
Reopening of U.S. Embassy in Cuba
W&M alumnus and former New Media Workshop participant, David Culver and Professor Ann Marie Stock report on reopening of U.S. Embassy in Cuba for NBC-4
Animator Ernesto Pina presents film to students
Cuban animation artist Ernesto Pina presents his films to students in the Introduction to Hispanic Studies and Theories of Visual Culture courses. The clever animated shorts delight and inspire the audience.
2016
W&M Libraries announces Faculty Scholar
In spring 2016, W&M Libraries names Professor Ann Marie Stock the inaugural Faculty Scholar. W&M Libraries invites Stock to work closely with library colleagues to develop a digital repository that will make the materials she has compiled and created for some 30 years on Cuban film accessible to the world.
Tack Lecture: “Remix and Revolution in Cuba”
Ann Marie Stock, professor of Hispanic studies and film and media studies, takes us behind the scenes of Cuba’s film world, introducing us to a vibrant cultural tradition in her Tack Faculty Lecture, “Remix and Revolution in Cuba: Screening the Island’s Transformation through Cinema.” Through the lens of cinema, we see how media artists have presented their island’s people and places on screen. Watch Tack Lecture on YouTube.
New Media Workshop travels to Eastern Cuba
As part of the “Cuba-Curate-Connect” Workshop, sixteen W&M students travel to Cuba’s eastern region of Oriente during spring break 2016. Highlights of the trip include discussing book making with artists at the Cuadernos Papiro workshop in Holguín, meeting with poet Delfín Prats and bringing back a handmade book of his poetry for W&M Libraries, and exchanging ideas with filmmakers and film students at the Televisión Serrana. W&M Libraries partnered with the Reves Center for International Studies, the Charles Center for Honors and Interdisciplinary Studies, and the program in Hispanic Studies. Funds from the Philpott-Pérez fund provided travel grants for students.
Jorge Luis Barber presents film at Swem
The feature film Bitter Coffee (dir. Rigoberto Jiménez, 2015) is presented in the Botetourt Auditorium, Swem Library in a public screening. Producer Jorge Luis Barber discusses his role in the project and fields questions about making and marketing films in Cuba.
2017
W&M students team up to translate essay by Cuban filmmaker
Three of the students who participated in the New Media Workshop and traveled to Cuba—Nathaniel Clemens, Kyle McQuillan, and Morgan Sehdev—merge their talents to translate an essay written by filmmaker Carlos Rodríguez that is published inThe Cinema of Cuba: Contemporary Film and the Legacy of Revolution (Tauris World Cinema Series). In doing so, they help introduce this community media creator to a wide audience of English speakers.
W&M Libraries Board travels to Cuba to meet partners
In May 2017 several W&M Libraries Board members travel to Cuba. The delegation tours the handmade book workshop Ediciones Vigía where they select art books for Special Collections, visits the Finca Vigía (Hemingway Museum) and exchanges ideas with the director and conservation specialists, and stops at the studio of Samuel Riera, whose “Art Brut” space fosters creativity and promotes social justice. They also meet with curator Agapito Martínez and graphic designer Alejandro Rodríguez Fornés “Alucho” to secure poster art for the growing collection of Cuban film posters in the Special Collections Research Center.
Mosaic Initiative Provides Talent for the Cuban Media Project
As part of an effort to expand and diversify the pipeline for academic libraries, W&M Libraries launches the Mosaic Internship and Fellowship Program. Through this initiative, Kyle McQuillan (‘17) and Isabel Rodríguez (‘19), extend their engagement with Cuban culture begun when they were students in the New Media Workshop. Part of their work involves researching and creating a website for the Unmade in Cuba ghost poster series.
Cuban Handmade Book Exhibit
Hecho a Mano: Cuban Handmade Books. exhibit, curated by Isabelle Rodríguez and featuring books from Cuadernos Papiro and Ediciones Vigía, opens in Swem Library.
W&M Libraries intervenes in wake of Hurricane Irma
As Hurricane Irma touches down in Cuba in October 2017, W&M Libraries prepare a trip to the island to continue advancing plans with partners—presenting our work at an international conference in Havana and signing an institutional agreement with the Televisión Serrana community media collective. The hurricane postpones the trip. Despite pervasive flooding and strong winds, the storm spares our partners from damage to their materials. They do suffer power outages and scarcity of supplies. W&M Libraries staff, board members and friends demonstrate solidarity by gathering much needed items to share with them.
Cuba Media Project Fund established through W&M Libraries
Our relationship with Cuba inspires many to partner with us to sustain the momentum. We add the “Cuba Fund” to our portfolio of options for donors. The fund has begun to grow, thanks to the generosity of many. With this support, W&M can continue hosting Cuban artists on our campus to enrich the learning experiences of students and local residents, preserve and promote Cuban media culture, and explore the potential of digital humanities and academic library partnership to make real differences in the world.
Award-winning Cuban filmmaker Aram Vidal visits W&M
Filmmaker Aram Vidal offers a director’s special preview at the W&M Global Film Festival. Aram screens a director’s cut of his debut feature film El Pez Azul (The Blue Fish) and discusses his filmmaking process.
Televisión Serrana works presented at W&M Global Film Festival
New Media Workshop students curate a program of Cuban documentaries for the Global Film Festival. Work by the community media organization Televisión Serrana is received with enthusiasm by the audience.
2017-2018
Carteles de Alucho exhibit at Swem Library
Students, faculty and library specialists co-curate an exhibit devoted to the compelling work of graphic designer Alejandro Rodríguez Fornés “Alucho.” Alucho traveled to W&M to participate in the inauguration of his first solo show in the U.S. as well as the W&M Global Film Festival, an event for which he designed the promotional poster.
2018
W&M Libraries presents at Association of Academic Museums & Galleries conference
Jennie Davy, Exhibits Manager, and Kyle McQuillan, Mosaic Fellow, present at the panel session, "With Our Powers Combined: Museums and Libraries Teaming Up to Teach, Engage, and Serve New Constituencies." The panel focuses on ways museums and libraries can foster beneficial partnerships on campus and off, and create collaborative teaching that is more critical, joint programming that is more sustainable, and interconnected presences that are more visible.
W&M and TVS sign partnership agreement
William & Mary sign a partnership agreement with Televisión Serrana (TVS), in conjunction with the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT), becoming the first U.S. university to have a formal agreement with the Cuban community media organization.