Weekend Passport: ‘Cuban Visions’ Film Fest Brings Queer Cuban Filmmakers To Chicago

Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel, left, Cuban First Vice President Salvador Valdes Mesa, second left, and Cuban Vice President Ramiro Valdez, center, attend the session to debate the draft of a new Constitution, at the Convention Palace in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Dec. 21, 2018. Cuba’s government removed language promoting the legalization of gay marriage from the draft after widespread popular rejection of the idea.
Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel, left, Cuban First Vice President Salvador Valdes Mesa, second left, and Cuban Vice President Ramiro Valdez, center, attend the session to debate the draft of a new Constitution, at the Convention Palace in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Dec. 21, 2018. Cuba's government removed language promoting the legalization of gay marriage from the draft after widespread popular rejection of the idea. Ramon Espinosa / AP Photo
Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel, left, Cuban First Vice President Salvador Valdes Mesa, second left, and Cuban Vice President Ramiro Valdez, center, attend the session to debate the draft of a new Constitution, at the Convention Palace in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Dec. 21, 2018. Cuba’s government removed language promoting the legalization of gay marriage from the draft after widespread popular rejection of the idea.
Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel, left, Cuban First Vice President Salvador Valdes Mesa, second left, and Cuban Vice President Ramiro Valdez, center, attend the session to debate the draft of a new Constitution, at the Convention Palace in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Dec. 21, 2018. Cuba's government removed language promoting the legalization of gay marriage from the draft after widespread popular rejection of the idea. Ramon Espinosa / AP Photo

Weekend Passport: ‘Cuban Visions’ Film Fest Brings Queer Cuban Filmmakers To Chicago

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“Cuban Visions,” a bi-monthly film series in Chicago, runs through November 2019. Presented by Americas Media Initiative and Full Spectrum Features, the film expo introduces Chicago moviegoers to scarcely seen works from Cuban filmmakers through short fiction, animation and documentaries. The series’ second installment introduces viewers to the short films of Afro-Cuban documentary filmmaker Damián Sainz, whose films explore spaces for the expression of queer identities and desires. He will host a panel discussion alongside poet, critic and playwright Norge Espinosa Mendoza. For Worldview’s Weekend Passport segment, both join to talk about their work, as well as gender identity, LGBTQ politics and recently passed constitutional reform in Cuba, which stopped short of legalizing gay marriage.