In 1961, President Kennedy included Cuba in the
Trading with the Enemy Act prohibiting the exchange of goods between the two countries, including tourism. Under the Bush Administration, US policies towards the island were more isolating than any period in history. The embargo has distanced our two cultures and made this project a challenge to pull off. Nonetheless, we have found a way:
We traveled to Cuba under the General License for Professional Research as defined by OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control. As full-time professional artists, this granted us permission by the US government to travel to Cuba to conduct non-commercial research in the area of arts and culture for public dissemination upon return to the United States.
In Cuba we have received official approval from the Comité Central del Partido Comunista, the Cuban government’s executive circle of policymakers who have reviewed our project. They issued us a filming license to videotape in Havana along with special travel visas for intercultural exchange. The Cuban police assisted by closing off streets during our film shoot.
Our partnering organizations in Cuba were reimbursed through donations in computer and audiovisual production equipment that was brought to the island and distributed through the 2007 Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba.
All Cuban participants involved in the making of The Closest Farthest Away signed documents of non-commercial intent. We documented our work in Cuba with video as proof that our travels followed the guidelines of OFAC.
We were reviewed and supported by the donated legal services of arts and entertainment lawyer Keith Rouse, a member of California Lawyers for the Arts.