From Cuba, the video collection of TELEVISIÓN SERRANA

On January 15th 2019, Television Serrana (“Television of the mountains”) celebrated its 26th year of operation, from the highest mountain system in Cuba. Founded in 1993 by journalist and documentary filmmaker Daniel Diez Castillo, and supported by the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT), this community project seeks to reflect and defend the identity, human values and culture of the inhabitants of the Sierra Maestra mountain range.

As a not-for-profit organization that seeks to promote the knowledge and use of audiovisual media for social, educational and cultural advancement, Television Serrana joined the Latin American Coordination of Film and Communication Indigenous Peoples (CLACPI) in late 90s, thanks to a partnership with the Center for Training and Filmmaking of Bolivia, CEFREC.

Commitment to the people of Sierra Maestra and their distinct identity, experiences, needs, customs, philosophy and worldview, as well as the ambition to produce solid and aesthetic documentaries that reveal a collective imagery, have always been the fundamental pillars of Television Serrana, as part of their aim to create a community initiative promoting popular participation in media and allowing the Serrano people to not only be spectators but complicit participants in the medium.

In a recent interview, Daniel Diez Castillo summed up the organization’s work: "Perhaps the one who helped us the most to understand how to make Serrana TV was Martí […] Martí talks about the need to bring passion and advocates for education into the mountains and remote areas to work at enabling the link between education and culture." This work is perfectly in synch with the aspirations of the indigenous producers at CLACPI, who join in celebrating a new year for Television Serrana.