CUBA'S TV SERRANA

Friday, March 25th, 2011
1:30 – 3:30 p.m.
Kleinau Theatre
2nd floor, Communications Building

The Global Media Research Center is pleased to present CUBA’S TV SERRANA. We invite you to attend
and to encourage your students to attend as well. Consider offering this event as extra credit; we
have a method of collecting attendance.

TV Serrana is the award winning community media project that trains youth from the Sierra Maestra
Mountains in video production so they can tell the stories of their communities and culture. In the
17 years since its founding, TV Serrana has produced close to 500 documentaries that have won
numerous national and international awards.

At this event, Carlos Rodriguez, a filmmaker and director at TV Serrana, will screen the documentaries
and discuss different aspects of the work of the organization. A selection of TV Serrana's productions
will be screened that will provide an historical survey of their work. All videos will be subtitled in
English. Alexandra Halkin, CMP Founding Director and Founder of the Cuba Media Project will be
accompanying Carlos. Alexandra is a former Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellow and documentary
filmmaker with over 20 years of experience working with indigenous and campesino communities in the Americas.

TV Serrana was founded in 1993 by documentary filmmaker, Daniel Diez, with financial support from
UNESCO. TV Serrana is based in the community of San Pablo de Yao, in the Sierra Maestra Mountains
in Granma province. For the most part, before its creation the culture and lives of the communities
of the Sierra Maestra were not represented on Cuban National Television or present in the general
public consciousness in Cuba. TV Serrana also serves as a mechanism for self-reflection within these
communities of the Sierra Maestra, and helps the reaffirmation and strengthening of the local culture
and its economic development.

Videos produced by TV Serrana have also been used in advocacy work. By choosing certain topics
such as the lack of a local bakery, or health clinic, or passable road these videos have been used
to put pressure on local governmental officials to improve the living and working conditions in the
Sierra. TV Serrana is now seen an integral and essential part of community life and culture in the
region.

Free Event – All Welcome. For more information, please contact Laura Germann at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Sponsored by the Global Media Research Center, Americas Media Initiative, Cuba Media Project,
Fundación Ludwig de Cuba, and the Ford Foundation.