Blanca Rosa Blanco: the first Cuban at the International Film and Shared Memory Festival in Morocco

December 16, 2023

Cuban actress and director Blanca Rosa Blanco is participating in the 12th session of the International Film and Shared Memory Festival (FICMEC) with her documentary "Retorno".

The artist is the first director from the island to reach the event, held in the city of Nador, Morocco, and which this time has 'Re-migration and Memory' as its central theme.

Regarding her participation, Blanco commented exclusively to Cuba Noticias 360 that "'Retorno' arrives in Nador through the vision of a Festival that for 12 editions dedicates an international event to Memory that includes shorts, feature films and documentaries".

Furthermore, she emphasized that "this year they are precisely dedicating space to the 'returnees', to the right that an individual has to return to their land. This is how this material enters into competition".

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The film event, organized by the Center for Shared Memory for Democracy and Peace, will screen the Cuban filmmaker's audiovisual this Thursday, December 14.

Regarding the exhibition, Blanca Rosa said that "it usually tends to be a room for the jury, participants that can be very diverse, a very universal perspective, from the viewpoint of different latitudes like Chile, Canada, Morocco or Portugal".

"It is an experience based on exchange and where spaces make it possible organically", she confirmed from the African country.

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Photo: Courtesy of Blanca Rosa Blanco.
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Photo: Courtesy of Blanca Rosa Blanco.
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Photo: Courtesy of Blanca Rosa Blanco.
The popular actress also wanted to comment on her experience during this year, which she considered "very turbulent for everyone, for culture, for filmmakers, contradictions that I suppose will lead us to a good port, 'hope is the last thing to be lost'", she said to this media outlet.

Among the good news from this 2023 is the creation of another audiovisual project titled "Dulce", for which she works jointly with screenwriter Amilcar Salatti on the presence of Cuban poetess Dulce María Loynaz in the Canary Islands.

"The 'Dulce' project is in the screenplay stage in the hands of Amílcar Salati, trying to approach her story between life and work, it will be a long process", Blanco advanced.

Finally, the artist wanted to reaffirm the importance of an event of this type, mainly for its theme. Beyond her participation, she considered it a very interesting space for filmmakers dealing with issues related to memory and emigration.

Happy to be present at the event, Blanca Rosa wanted to send her thanks to the director of FICMEC, Spanish-Mexican anthropologist Sandra Rojo, and its artistic director, Portuguese filmmaker Carlos Coelho.

During the opening of the event, the director of the Center for Shared Memory for Democracy and Peace, Abdel Salam Boutayeb, affirmed that the festival is especially concerned with human rights and political issues through cinema.

According to Moroccan media Nador City, Boutayeb also highlighted that "people have discovered that culture is the last bastion against ugliness. It is the way to overcome ugliness in this world, which passes through highlighting the beauty we carry within through sound and image".

The event's selection process consisted of more than 500 films, after which 30 cinematographic productions from 17 countries across four continents were chosen.

The films will compete in three official sections: 8 feature films, 8 documentaries and 14 short films, with the objective of winning the award of this event and continuing to make visible the defense and promotion of human rights, interculturality and the progress of peoples from various latitudes.