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Jorge Oliver, illustrator and caricaturist, gives his opinion on the current state of comic and cartoon production in Cuba. In addition, he reflects on the future and the needs of these artistic manifestations.

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Laura Serguera Lio 
digital@juventudrebelde.cu
June 2, 2017 20:43:52 CDT

The illustrator and caricaturist Jorge Oliver Medina affirms that he does not understand adults and does not work for them because they take away time that he can dedicate to children. Former vice president of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television, twice La Rosa Blanca national children's literature award, creator of several characters for the little ones, such as the inhabitants of Isla del Coco and Chamaquili, and director from the cinematographic program Frame by frame, he turns out to be an intelligent man, with a Creole humor and without mincing words. In a casual way, he answers questions about the present and future of comics and cartoons in our country.

Are the Cuban publications whose pages include comics enough to satisfy the public's demand?

-Nope. The cartoon is lost. Before, and I'm talking about no more than ten years ago, all the provincial newspapers and magazines published them. Also several publishers. Today they are few: the Pablo de la Torriente and the April Publishing House, but when the paper reaches them.

—What is the reason for this decrease in the publication of comics?

—To not making decisions. There is no censorship that prevents publishing; lack of will to do so.

—You are the National Prize for Children's Literature in 2006 and 2007, you have numerous books, within the artistic manifestations, and specifically literary, is the comic strip respected and appreciated at the level of other genres?

"No, daughter, no. Reading cartoons when I was a child was reading unimportant things. Today, if a child manages to read them, they will always have an adult next to them telling them: "Instead of reading cartoons, they just did their homework."

—That is the behavior at a social, family level; At the institutional level, is the same attention paid to the production of comic strips for the Book Fair as to volumes of short stories, for example?

“He's had his ups and downs. Now, I am optimistic. The current direction of the Ministry of Culture is very interested in putting the foot, as we Cubans say, to produce comics. The mechanism is long. The paper is not lost because no one can find it, but because there are no resources, we are experiencing a great technological change in the printing presses and the people's avidity for reading is enormous. We are competing against her, but we are at a good time to start.

—Is the future of comic strips in Cuba promising then?

—Very sure. Not because there is paper, not because publishers publish. The great future of the cartoon is in the pile of crazy people drawing in the street.

—In your opinion, do young Cuban cartoonists create their characters like those of the previous generation, reflecting our idiosyncrasy, or are they influenced by foreign patterns?

—The new generation of cartoonists is a stained glass window. There is everything. From those who still aspire to draw manga to those who only work with stories taken from the Yoruba tradition. As long as we manage to continue being a great rainbow, we will be complying with Cuba. Our country is a crucible in which manga and Changó fit.

—Where do these young cartoonists find their space if few publishers publish their work?

"That's what I'd like to know." I have no idea how they manage. There is an element to promote very quickly and it is in our hands: the internet. We must take advantage of it and we do not do enough. I admit to being one of the culprits for the absence of a collection of comics in the network of networks. Cuadro a tabla should have an online version.

—Why doesn't this version have frame by frame?

—Infrastructure is lacking, although if I push, I achieve it. We made an attempt: we were a year with only one email and I almost went crazy with the number of messages we received. Until I have a team to help me, I won't be able to have a web version.

—Do you consider continuous contact with spectators to be positive?

—More than positive, it is necessary. They stop me in the street and they ask me, from if I am Juan Oliver, because they have the wrong name, to why there are only 15 minutes of comments. The most valuable contact is not that, it is with those who tell me: "Don't do the Ninja Turtles program again, it was rubbish."

—Is frame by frame your first project on television?

-I've been involved in a lot of projects as a consultant, writer, promoter, and I've participated in some for adults, but uploading a full program and daring to talk to viewers is the first time. I wouldn't have made it if there wasn't a whole picket line behind the screen. Frame by frame is made by his collaborators. It's a conspiracy between people willing to make the show they want to see.

- Do you plan to keep this proposal as part of the special grills

summer and end of the year, or do you want it to become a regular space on television?

-That is a sin. Television is made by seasons. When we have more technological and development possibilities, we will be able to produce more seasons. The public needs that break, the production team too, and it gives them the chance to work far beyond the small screen. Frame by frame will never be annual.

—In the program you screen films related to comics and they generally have high-quality animations, but how is the health of cartoons in Cuba?

—We are not in intensive care, not even intermediate, we are under treatment. There is effort. More than 60 percent of creators are under the age of 35. That is a promise. For our level, for our needs, for our limitations, we are doing very well. Another advantage places us above the comic: the Animation Studies of the Cuban Institute of Art

and Film Industry have resisted against all odds.

—Where are our illustrators and animators trained?

-In nowhere. Academic institutions related to graphics,

audiovisuals and the arts in general are one of our great potholes,

in them the animation does not exist. Our animators are boys who used to draw when they were little.

—From your experience, do Cuban characters compete with foreigners in terms of the preference of the child audience?

—There are no Cuban characters. There are characters in general, made in Cuba and made outside of Cuba. Elpidio Valdés is still Elpidio Valdés, but Mickey Mouse is Mickey Mouse. Ours need to do the famous transmedia. To jump from one medium to another you need children to believe in you. A contract has just been signed with a foreign supplier, supplier of the chain stores in charge of selling clothes and toys for children and a very large production of articles with the characters of the Cuban cartoons will begin. It must be a reality soon.

—Do you consider yourself a cartoonist, a film critic, a television director or a presenter?

—I'm a guy who makes dolls.