IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH february 2017 | Page 31

Race , Class and Gender

Yaima Pardo and Her Revolutionary Family

Nonardo Perea Havana , Cuba

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his young woman breaks stereotypes with her audiovisual proposals and public interventions . She projected herself to the world as a futurist and avant-garde woman . Among other national and international awards and recognitions , she is the recipient of Caminos Awards ( Martin Luther King Jr Center ) for the documentary At the End of the Road ( 2011 ); Noemí Award ( Brownstone Foundation ) and Chambers Award ( UNESCO ) for the documentary Off Line ( 2013 ); Félix B . Caignet Award ( UNEAC ) for Best Direction in the documentary Antigone , the Process ( 2013 ). We are going to talk with Yaima Pardo about her new audiovisual project — in favor of the Cuban LGBT movement — oriented towards change and acceptance of diversity .
You are currently involved in the project Cause and Chances . What do you propose ? In a general sense , my work aims to reflect from the perspective of the politics that we face as citizens and to think politics as a reflexive activity that raises new social constructions . Cause and Chances want to think about marriage , the Family Code , the patriarchy and other social constructions that limit the citizens ' rights . I am very interested in what is happening to the LGTBI community and its activity , because I believe that , beyond defending their own rights and their individuality , this community advances against all types of discrimination and that makes its activism much more complete . I am interested in visualizing it , because it can be a real engine for social transformation . It seems to me that they are acting from the grassroots . At times , the presence of Mariela Castro — as a relevant public figure — has been important . As some activists say , the sense of homophobia , which is politically incorrect , is no longer visible , but they go further and demand many other things . So , we want to create with our work a kind of agenda for change and to create a kind of document that can be socialized , taken to the national family and considered by the policy makers . In the end , what every artist proposes is to rebuild the country , to think about the possibilities of something new and oriented towards the future . That ' s where the thing goes , towards a country where everyone , without exclusion , would feel happy and have the same opportunities . That ' s what we want with this work .
At what moment arises your interest in being an advocate of LGTBI rights ? Why do you feel motivated ? I feel an artist has certain responsibility with human beings to visualize their problems and make us part of their feelings , their aspirations or sufferings . I am even interested in talking to all people from the LGTBI rights
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