学生们喜欢与古巴电影人建立“卷轴”关系
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It’s a universe practically no one explores, a universe uncharitably defined and underestimated by those who cling to old political paradigms, a universe that Ann Marie Stock and her crew of William & 玛丽 students are exposing to the world, one frame at a time.
Stock, associate professor of modern languages and literatures, first experienced Cuban cinema 20 years ago when she attended a film festival in Havana. Stunned by the passion, craftsmanship and accessibility of the filmmakers, she quickly began collecting material for her doctoral dissertation and, later, for her teaching at the College.
But there’s more to Stock’s story -- much more -- than mere intellectual immersion. Stock has centered her professional life around every aspect of film-making on the island. She has interviewed the filmmakers, written and published those interviews, written and published reviews of their films, written and published analyses of their films. She has written a book about these films, entitled “On Location in Cuba.”
Starting years ago with a film entitled “Madagascar” by Fernando Perez, Stock has taken their films, translated and subtitled them, made them marketable to the major film capitals of the world. She hasn’t done it alone; her students have been with her every step of the way.
“The students were jazzed by doing something that mattered, something that had a life beyond campus,” Stock recalled. “Something that wasn’t just a paper to be filed away that only their professor saw.
“I think it’s really important for students to think of themselves as cultural agents. By that I mean individuals who are capable of fostering the creativity of others, who are capable of helping circulate cultural expressions, be that film, poetry, video. It’s very empowering when students see themselves work with me in conducting an interview and the results of our interview are published and disseminated. To some extent -- maybe a tiny extent -- that matters for the career trajectory of artists of filmmakers.”
Cuban writer and filmmaker Karel Ducases disagrees with Stock. He would argue that there’s nothing “tiny” about the contribution she and William & 玛丽 have made to the propagation of Cuban cinema.
“It’s very important to have a person like Ann Marie in the U.S., doing things for Latin American filmmakers and their works,” Ducases said via e-mail from Cuba. “I don’t know of any other person or American institution that has the kind of relationship with us that Ann Marie and William & 玛丽 have.”
Last February, Stock transported Ducases’ film, “Zone of Silence” back to Williamsburg from Havana. She and her students then spent the spring semester creating subtitles for it. The students had lots of questions, most of which Stock could have answered. Instead, she encouraged them to go right to the source and contact Ducases, giving them an “eminently productive learning experience” with a director.
“(Their subtitling) was very important in the documentary being shown in other places, especially English-language countries,” Ducases wrote. “My work has now been seen by many people at festivals or exhibitions in Poland, the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, Germany and Italy.
“This is great. My documentary runs 40 minutes and has five interviews and too many comments. That makes it impossible to understand the censorship history in Cuba -- and my personal message -- if you don’t understand a word of Spanish.”
Appreciation and support for her work were prime reasons Stock was awarded the first Reves Center Faculty Fellowship last spring, along with David Aday, professor of sociology and American studies.
The fellowships, Stock’s for International Student-Faculty Research, Aday’s for International Service Learning, run for two years. They include a $5,000 research fund or salary stipend each year and funding of $6,000 for student support last summer and in the summer of 2010.
“The Reves Fellow has really helped me grow this wonderful initiative that emphasizes independent inquiry,” Stock said. “Students really work towards goals they set for themselves with this research and with these documentary dissemination. It’s really helped me foster their undergraduate research skills.”
(Editor’s note: A profile and video of Professor Aday appeared here recently. See related links to view.)
In addition to manufacturing the subtitles for Zone of Silence, accomplishments aided by the Reves Fellowship stipend include: a documentary about Ducases and fellow Cuban filmmaker Alina Rodriguez; an exhibit devoted to the photos of Gustavo Perez and displayed in the Botentourt gallery of Swem Library.
Stock arranged to host filmmakers Gilberto Martinez Gomez and Miguel Coyula at a workshop in Williamsburg, during which Coyula filmed part of his next feature inside the Kimball Theatre. Workshop participants had the chance to position themselves behind the camera as interviewers and videographers and in front of the camera as extras. Footage from the interviews has been edited into “On Location in Cuba: Montage,” the trailer for a future documentary.
“Many filmmakers give thanks to her for her honest help,” Ducases wrote. “She is special for her contribution to events in Cuba like ‘Festival of Young Filmmakers’ or the ‘Latin America New Cinema Festival.’ I think Cuban filmmakers respect her, her comments and her ideas tremendously because she did an exhaustive and serious investigation in order to write her book.”
The value of Stock’s passion to W&M is incalculable. Their work is sent around the world and “when audiences are looking at this documentary,” Stock says, “at the end of credits they’re seeing, ‘Subtitles by’ and the students’ names as part of the W&M New Media workshop.”
此外，两名学生使用斯托克和斯威姆图书馆媒体中心主任特洛伊·戴维斯拍摄的杜卡斯和罗德里格斯的镜头，并将其制成纪录片，斯托克在2009年纽约哈瓦那电影节上公布。“这是一个非常具体的方式，让学生看到他们正在做的工作，”斯托克说。“他们的研究传播了其他途径无法获得的重要信息。这在古巴的情况下尤其引人注目，因为我们两国之间的关系限制了我们对彼此的了解。”美国人对古巴有许多误解。其中最重要的是卡斯特罗政府对电影的审查。“当我在电影节上展示作品时，经常会遇到这样的问题：‘国家资助的电影学院怎么可能拍出一部如此重要的电影？’”她说。“我说，‘同样的主题还有一个和七个。’这说明了我们对古巴言论表达的期望。”另一个让古巴电影人恼火的误解是，他们都想叛逃到美国来。她说：“我邀请了许多电影制作人来美国，并在W&M接待了许多人，古巴人非常有兴趣将他们的作品展示给国际观众。”“从来没有人决定要留在这里。他们告诉我，‘这是我的国家，我想讲的故事就在这里。为什么大家都觉得我们想出去？’”
2010年，斯托克计划让她的学生更接近古巴电影界。她将利用Reves基金和梅隆大学（Mellon Grant）的资助，把一批“骨干”学生带到纽约参加哈瓦那电影节（Havana Film Festival）。她想让他们亲身体验展示自己的作品。
“在申请Reves奖学金的过程中，我列出了目标清单；活动、评估里程碑等等，”斯托克说道。“我很高兴地说，我和我的学生们都处于良好的状态。“{{youtube:中等:左| DrPIs1-K6Cw}}
