The Cuban regime never misses an opportunity to turn the mundane into an epic tale. This time, the epic backdrop was a film screening at the very headquarters of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC).
Miguel Díaz-Canel and his loyal aide, Roberto Morales Ojeda, sat together in the dim light of the auditorium to watch Nora, the latest patriotic thriller by director Roly Peña. A display of "revolutionary culture," according to state media; a private propaganda screening, according to any honest viewer.
The film, inspired by "real events," tells the story of a Cuban spy infiltrated in supposed "terrorist groups in Miami", a recurring character that the government revives whenever it needs to divert attention from hunger, blackouts, or mass migration.
In real Cuba, secret agents haven’t infiltrated anything for a long time; it is the ordinary Cubans who must hide their opinions to survive. But in the universe of ICAIC, where fiction and obedience blur, the heroine Nora becomes a symbol of “resistance and sovereignty.”
During the discussion following the screening, the first secretary of the PCC made an effort to appear moved. “Like Nora and David, there are many people in our community,” he declared with a rehearsed expression, as if he were speaking from the script of the film itself.
His organizational chief nodded, because Morales Ojeda is moved by the little speeches and catchy phrases that he himself writes for the greater rhetorical glory of the "leader of continuity."
The applause from the audience—mostly made up of Party officials, cultural functionaries, and grateful actors—completed the ritual of adulation.
The president of ICAIC, Alexis Triana, and director Roly Peña took the opportunity during the meeting to emphasize their "commitment to revitalizing Cuban cinema," according to the official note from the PCC.
The phrase sounds cruel coming from those responsible for the fact that true Cuban cinema —the critical, the independent, the one that denounces censorship and portrays reality— has no place in official theaters.
Directors who dare to film outside the ideological script, such as Miguel Coyula or Carlos Lechuga, are condemned to ostracism. Meanwhile, state studios produce a cinematic version of Granma with public funding and guaranteed applause.
"I don't need to import heroes: I have them in my history," Peña stated, to the satisfaction of those present, omitting one detail: the true heroes of Cuban cinema are not in his official history, but in exile or anonymity. They are in the censored films, in the banned documentaries, and in the festivals where ICAIC is conspicuously absent.
The heroes of Peña, on the other hand, are recycled figurines from the cardboard imaginary of the revolution, crafted from scraps of wasp networks and fishermen's lines to sustain a narrative that no one believes anymore.
The evening concluded with the presentation of posters and photos for the archive of the Ideological Department. Díaz-Canel and Morales Ojeda received their posters with the same solemnity with which others receive medals.
To the Secretary of the Federation of Cuban Women, Teresa Amarelle Boué, a poster was also gifted "in recognition of the role of women in the history of the Motherland."
Everything was carefully documented for the official press: smiles, hugs, and slogans. Of course, there was no mention of the closed cinemas, the theaters without air conditioning, or the lack of materials for projection in the provinces.
Nora aims to be a "spy thriller," but it ends up being an unintentional metaphor for the very system that funds it: a plot of simulation, fear, and feigned loyalties. Instead of suspense, it provides slogans; instead of conflict, obedience; and instead of truth, propaganda.
Ultimately, official Cuban cinema remains true to its singular genre: revolutionary fiction. A cinema that seeks not to evoke emotions, but to persuade. It does not reflect life, but rather the script of the Party. And like Díaz-Canel in the central seat, it continues to gaze at a screen that no one outside of its bubble wants to see lit up anymore.
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