Trigueros, a small town in Huelva with fewer than 8,000 inhabitants, is preparing for a deep immersion in contemporary Cuban culture. Film, photography, painting, lectures, music, and even a poetry improvisation workshop begin this Friday and end on Saturday, August 16. The Trigueros Cuban Culture Cycle is a private initiative of the Harina de Otro Costal Art Center, with support from the Cuban Institute of Arts and the Cinematographic Industry (ICAIC), the Trigueros City Council, and the Cuban Consulate in Seville.

Cuban actress Laura de la Uz will present some of the nine films on offer in the program, which were made between 1967 and 2012. The cycle begins on Friday afternoon (8:00 p.m.) with Por primera vez (1967), by Octavio Cortázar, and will end with La película de Ana, a 2012 film by Daniel Díaz Torres starring De la Uz and which can be seen on the 15th. After the screening, the public will have the opportunity to chat with the actress about her work.

Ana’s film, which tells the story of an unlucky actress who decides to become a director and film a documentary about prostitution in Cuba, with all the problems that this entails, has garnered several awards at international events, including Best Actress and Best Screenplay at the 2013 Havana International Festival of New Latin American Cinema. It also won Best Actress at the 2013 Ceará Ibero-American Film Festival (Brazil).

In addition to film, marking the 55th anniversary of the famous ICAIC, Cuban poet Alexis Díaz Pimienta will lead a poetry improvisation workshop throughout the week, and the Spanish-based Cuban group Goza con mi Tumbao will perform every night after the screenings. The exhibition will also explore other arts with the lecture CUrBAnidad. Architecture as a Pretext, given by architect José Ramón Moreno, and three exhibitions.

Regarding the visual arts offering, in addition to the ICAIC’s Cuban Film Posters exhibition, you can see a joint exhibition by Huelva-based artists Juan Manuel Seisdedos and Héctor Garrido titled “De ida y vuelta” (Going and Returning), in which both show work produced in Cuba. Seisdedos presents a series of paintings featuring color, and Garrido presents part of his Cuba Iluminada project, in which he has portrayed over one hundred Cuban artists and personalities. Garrido also offers another solo exhibition, “Vórtice.”