by Merri Ansara
Massachusetts Peace Action and the Easthampton Library are running a monthly film series called Cuba in the Valley. The series is part of the work of MAPA’s Cuba Subcommittee, a standing committee of the Latin America/Caribbean Working Group. The goal of the series is through film and discussion of issues relevant to both our countries, bring people in to greater understanding of the goals and history of the Cuban Revolution as well as illustrate the common themes and ties between the United States and Cuba, those that exist today, have existed historically and could exist with normalization of relations. The films are being shown in Western Massachusetts but also are available in Eastern Massachusetts for those who might want to show them.
The films are held the first month of the month at the Easthampton Library Annex, 52 Main Street, from 5:45 to 7:45 pm. Films are in Spanish with English subtitles. Most are made by noted Cuban directors.
Last month, we showed In the Wrong Body. The 2010 documentary by Marylin Solaya explores the life of Mavi Susel, Cuba’s first recipient of gender affirming surgery in 1988. The film takes up the issues of femininity, identity, and belonging in a patriarchal society where the norms of others have not yet changed. We showed this film as part of our salute to the the City of Easthampton’s June 2025 unanimous passage of a TNGDI (transgender, nonbinary) sanctuary resolution. The film led to a fascinating and thorough discussion of the issues and their relevance to the United States as well as to modern day Cuba. There also was information available on Cuba’s laws and public health practices that have evolved since that time to embrace the right to gender identity and sexual orientation as a matter of constitution and law, as well as on US-Cuba relations and the US embargo.
This month, Monday, November 3rd, we will show Eyes of the Rainbow, a film by noted Cuban filmmaker Gloria Rolando on Assata Shakur, the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army leader who escaped prison proclaiming her innocence and spent the rest of her life in exile, first in Mexico and then in Cuba. The film, made in 1997, showcases Assata in her own words, speaking with Gloria after she had already been in exile in Cuba for nearly 15 years. Assata Shakur died this past September 25th in Havana.
About the film, director Rolando says: “In the struggle of the African American people, many women’s voices in the past and the present have always called for social justice, women who throughout the years have shown integrity and firmness in their principles”. This is the voice, she says, of Assata Shakur. Who was Assata? How did she come to be in Cuba? Why was she in Cuba? And why did the United States place her as a focal point in their demands for normalizing relations with Cuba and punish Cuba for not surrendering her? How is it that Assata became such a legend, both in the US and in Cuba? In Eyes of the Rainbow, the film interweaves Assata’s story with her spiritual connection to the Yoruba Orisha Oya, an Afro-Cuban goddess, underlining the importance of culture and religion as well as politics in the African Diaspora and liberation struggle. The film is primarily in English and subtitled when in Spanish and incredibly relevant to the U.S. and Cuba of today.
Agustin Lao-Montes, professor in the W.E.B. DuBois African American Studies Department at UMass Amherst and noted activist and scholar in the Afrodescendent movements of the U.S., Cuban and Caribbean Afrodescent movements will lead a post film discussion.
At the film showings, information is available on how to travel to Cuba as well as on the ongoing US blockade of Cuba. Merri Ansara and Michael McCarthy, MAPA Cuba Subcommittee members and local activists expert on Cuba, US-Cuba relations and travel to Cuba, are available to answer questions after the screening.
Upcoming films may include Habanastation, Maestra, Brigadista, Wasp Network, Sin Embargo, Ustedes Tienen la Palabra, Santiago Alvarez Shorts, Belly of the Beast; and classics such as Soy Cuba, Lucia, Death of a Bureaucrat, Portrait of Teresa, Our Man in Havana, and others, depending on interest.
