Does the Cuban embargo affect the screening of Cuban movies in the USA?
This year the Cuban film Juan de los Muertos / Juan of the Dead is screaming at the Toronto International Film Festival. Being a Kanukistani, it got me wondering if there are and restrictions against Cuban films in the USA. I realize that all y’all are not allowed to smoke Havanas while watching Castro Bros. productions, but how about skipping the smokes and just watching the films?
Does the USA’s embargo against Cuba affect the distribution of Cuban films in the USA? Is there any general prohibition? Are there any hoops that film festivals (e.g. Austin’s Fantastic Fest or Minnie’s Cuban Film Festival) must jump through or certain distribution channels that they must avoid? Is there a difference between commercial and non-commercial distribution?
I believe that there is no problem with showing Cuban films in the U.S. I’ve seen them advertised at film festivals. That doesn’t mean they get much distribution, but then most foreign films (especially those from non-English-speaking countries) don’t get much distribution in the U.S.
Which seems to indicate that “informational materials” are not subject to the embargo, and that this includes “works of art”. There’s also a some US Federal Law citations so you can check those out.
Handling the matter in such a way as to pay royalties for the screening to Cuba, or to pay for copies, may be a legal minefield.
Even British and Canadian films often go straight to DVD in the US nowadays and get little, if any, fanfare. I guess they figure that the fans already know it’s coming out and that it’s such a niche product that trolling for new viewers is not cost effective.