From the USA to Cuba: Josef Lindner saves Titón's film heritage

Holguín, Cuba, Aug. 8 (RHC) Passionate about Cuba's cinematic heritage, American Josef Lindner is today supporting the preservation of the classics of filmmaker Tomás Gutiérrez Alea (Titón), who is being honored here at the XVIII Gibara International Film Festival.

I am proud of my small contribution to protect the cinematographic heritage of this country, said the official of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences in an interview published on the official website of the event, held in this coastal city of the province of Holguin.

Together with the Cinemateca de Cuba and its director Luciano Castillo, Lindner participated in the rescue of four emblematic works of Titón: A Cuban Fight Against Demons, The Survivors, The Last Supper, and The Death of a Bureaucrat, which had been exhibited the day before at the Plaza de la Cultura in the famous Villa Blanca.

Focused on restoration, he arrived in 2011 at the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema together with the American screenwriter and filmmaker Frank Pierson (1925-2012), winner of the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Dog Day Afternoon (1975), the article adds.

Five years later, we spoke to recover A Cuban Fight Against Demons and The Survivors, which were in the worst conditions, he recalled.

Lindner is looking for ways to help save and finance our film heritage. "With Castillo, I want to make a kind of top ten of lost Cuban films, and with this list, I want to search in universities and film archives where there might be copies and where they might want to help with their restoration.

As part of the festival, which runs until August 10, the American received the "65 ICAIC" commemorative stamp, along with Victor Ramirez, who has helped filmmaker and event founder Humberto Solas in Gibara since the shooting of Honey for Oshun (2001). (Source: Prensa Latina)