Cuban filmmaker Lilo Vilaplana (Nuevitas, Camagüey, 1965) is working on a new film project, this time inspired by the UMAP, the concentration camps in Cuba for young Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, those who wanted to emigrate due to their opposition to communism, and homosexuals, among others. With this film, he aims to "change the perception that those who went to UMAP were lumpen and antisocial," a narrative propagated by the Communist Party's machinery.
After his films "Plantados" (2021) and "Plantadas" (2023), dedicated to the suffering of Cuban political prisoners, Vilaplana wants to begin shooting in November his cinematic project about the euphemistically named Military Units to Support Production (UMAP), established between 1965 and 1968 in the plains of Camagüey. It is estimated that around 35,000 young people who did not fit into the emerging communist dictatorship were confined there. Of these, 72 died as victims of torture; 180 committed suicide, and 507 ended up in psychiatric facilities.
This brutal act implemented by Fidel Castro is what the filmmaker wants to recall now, with the lesson learned after receiving awards, especially with "Plantadas." Among them, a double award at the Cannes Films Awards (Best American Film and Human Rights); Best Film at the Toronto Independent Festival, and Best Director at the New York International Film Festival. The idea is to refine a work that can make it onto platforms like Netflix. To achieve this, he aims to tell the story of the UMAP with a focus somewhat distant from politics, in order to avoid the comment that this is a topic that only concerns Cubans.
In an interview granted to CiberCuba, Lilo Vilaplana explained that he has begun fundraising on GoFundme to finance the production of the film about the UMAP. His goal is to gather half a million dollars with the support not only of anonymous Cubans but also of Miami-based entrepreneurs committed to the freedom of Cuba. He is clear that if 20% of the 3 million exiled Cubans contribute a dollar towards the film, the target will be reached.
Also, this Sunday, July 20, a patriotic lunch has been organized at the Tower Road Ranch in Miami. Participants will pay $50 for the meal, and that money will be used to finance the film. There will be several concerts, including one by Amaury Gutiérrez, who will perform for free, and political prisoners have also been invited, upon whom Vilaplana's latest film is inspired.
The film about the UMAP aims to tell who was sent to these concentration camps in Camagüey and why, as well as all those who suffered there. To inform the project, in addition to studying extensive literature on the subject, the director has interviewed 27 witnesses (to date) of that hunt for those who were different, launched by Fidel Castro's regime.
One of the CiberCuba viewers mentioned during the interview with Lilo Vilaplana that her father had been sent to the UMAP for being Catholic. Lilo Vilaplana's aim is to reclaim the dignity of those, like this gentleman, who were unjustly punished by the dictatorship.
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