THE second edition of Screen Cuba: Films to change the world comes to UK cinema screens this month. Celebrating the remarkable achievements of Cuban cinema, the festival again offers a selection of outstanding contemporary films, as well as those produced over the last six decades.

The political importance cannot be overestimated. Cuban film-makers, like the rest of the island, are facing formidable challenges. The blockade against Cuba will undoubtedly deepen under the new Trump administration, and resources and distribution networks will become ever scarcer. These severe conditions are compounded with the island’s recent hurricanes and electricity outages. 

It is against these incredibly difficult conditions that the ongoing “Battle of Ideas” continues to take place. Fidel Castro first spoke of the Battle of Ideas in 2001 in the context of the struggle to win hearts and minds over the fight for the return of Cuban child Elian Gonzalez, who was being held in the US without his father’s consent.