CAMAGÜEY.- The brothers Nayin and Yamal were killed during a bombing. Their story is told from fiction, but it does not hurt the reality it denounces: children in the horrors of war. With the Bombas de Arena project, Keiter Castillo applied to the Cuban Film Development Fund and won the production benefits of the third call, in 2021.

The work is ready for the public, recently confirmed this Camagüey's citizen. The plot takes place in the context of the Middle East conflict zone. There is a third character played by the Cuban actor Luis Alberto García, among the personalities nominated for the National Film Award.

Miguel Amet, 3D modeler.

Bomb’s narrative... focuses on showing how the world is affected after a disaster, like a war. From the beginning there is a powerful scene: children playing in a destroyed building. That was decisive for the tone of the story he wanted to tell, a story that, according to him, flowed naturally and did not require excessive intellectual effort for his writing.

Keiter Castillo’s dialogue with the newspaper Adelante not only sheds light on the creative and technical process behind an animated work. It also reveals the passion, challenges and aspirations of an artist committed to telling stories that inspire, educate and move.

His animated roadmap begins with Henry de Armas in Mi raza (2020) and in Tu estrella (2022). He was the one-man orchestra of Telón (2023), directed by his friend but in which he was in charge of the general production, the direction of photography and the postproduction. He will defend Telón as an academic exercise to graduate from the ISA University of Arts in the specialty of Photography. Then came Sand Bombs.

Character that identifies Dodo Studio.

─Tell us, how did the idea for this project come about?

─The idea arose from a need to tell a story that reflected the post-disaster world, something I initially imagined in 2D but, as we explored, we saw the opportunity to evolve towards 3D. We preserved 2D touches and textures to give it that style we were looking for.

“The story was well rounded. It completely lowered my mind and it was very feasible to do it. When I internalized it, already written, I felt that I had a pain that went with it. The fact does not affect me directly, but it is universal. When I introduced it to friends, they told me that I should not touch on a topic from another culture, another religion, because it could be misinterpreted. Then I understood why I had done it. The death of a child cannot be justified by any religion or culture.”

─A path of exploration that appears to have been both challenging and revealing. How long did this search and creation process take?

─They were eight intense months of animation, but the time before was an extensive process of creative and technical search. It was a stage of a lot of experimentation until we animated the first frame.

Keiter Castillo emphasizes how, regardless of cultural or religious differences, the suffering of children in conflict is a universal issue that everyone should strive to prevent. This message resonated strongly with him, even in the face of criticism from those who suggested avoiding sensitive topics.

─In the story, you decided to start with an environment devastated by war and it is where the children's game takes place. What motivated you to choose this starting point?

─I felt it was crucial to show from the beginning the reality that we face in history. I wanted the viewer to understand the context and gravity of the topic from the first minute.

The project also presents challenges in directing animation dubbing, a new experience for the creator. The collaboration of Luis Alberto García and the choice of voices for the characters demonstrate an innovative approach.

─And speaking of creative decisions, the choice of dubbing caught my attention. What was it like directing this aspect, especially with voices that break stereotypes?

─It was a unique experience. It's the first time I've directed an animated dubbing. Curiously, the girl's voice is made by a boy and vice versa. It was a great pleasure to work with Luis Alberto, with his daughter Vida and with Marcelito. Luis Alberto already worked at Disney. We had our first meeting at his house. That he let me enter his home, he gave me comfort. Luis Alberto was always telling me: you are the director, you are the one who knows what you want.

“On the day of recording, I worked with the children first. At Luis' time, the first pass was spectacular; we followed another one of protection and it turned out magnificent. Then he told me, we already made the ones you wanted, wait a moment and let me give you mine. In the end we stayed with that one. “It was a nice experience.”

The technical aspects of the animation, especially the 3D work, posed significant challenges due to the physical distance between Keiter and animator Carlos Alexis Ortega.

─3D animation has been new territory for you. What challenged you?

─The biggest challenge was communication and coordination with the animator, who lives in Pinar del Río. We had to be very precise in our directions and use constant photos and messages to make sure every detail was perfect. We had to download 87 gigabytes for data and that was exhausting.

“Afterwards, the post-production process was to face what I had not imagined, because whatever the case, even though I had already made a 3D short, this one had something else: I wanted to surpass the previous one and there is progress. So far I have the satisfaction that all the people who have seen it say that the work promises.”

─What sparked your interest in animation?

─Approximately three and a half years ago, animation did not cross my mind, although my first work was a short, very rustic thing, with the stop motion technique. It was the story of a little spoon that was going to explore the world, it had never left the cutlery drawer and when it was ready to go out a hand picked it up. It was interpreted in many ways, but it was liked. I still worked as an art instructor. I presented it in a House of Culture. It was seen on the television program Vistazos. If they keep the file maybe I can recover it because I lost my disk.

─Do you aspire to become an animation director who knows how to do everything?

─I feel comfortable in fiction, because I have it in my hands, but in animation I need more people. I go in at the beginning, forming the story, organizing the team, then the animator takes over and I don't touch anything until post-production; but the ease that animation gives you to tell stories and create worlds is wonderful.

“Coloring is what I have managed to do the most, because I think I learned that in preschool. I graduated the theater specialty as an art instructor but, curiously, I went to do the plastic test. After so many years, I'm starting to see everything through animation."

Now, Keiter reflects on the financing and resources necessary to carry out animation projects. He overcame the difficulty of securing adequate funds and the impact of the economic reordering in Cuba.

─Facing financing and resources is always complicated. How did you navigate these challenges?

─It has been a difficult road. The economic reorganization affected our budget significantly. Bombs… is a co-production with the Fund and the Icaic Animation Studios. I had a viable budget to do the work but it was reduced to 60%, and it kept going down. When talking with other colleagues, I found that an embassy gave 7,000 euros for an animated short. I worked with almost a thousand dollars, that is, I am playing with Crayola.

“It has been my Achilles heel because I need to encourage people, preserve the artist, look for equipment such as drawing tablets, machines with their UPS, something urgent due to the problem of blackouts. A UPS costs me 40 thousand pesos, and that is 20% of the financing that the Fund gave me. I have worked with brilliant artists but I can't keep them because they need to live. To make a project viable right now I have to reduce time and equipment so that at least the payment can be seen. When I start working, for example, with 100 thousand pesos and 15 people, if you calculate, for a four-month project, the one who could earn the most would receive 10 thousand pesos. That's why no one spends this time."

─So, as far as you want to tell me, what do you live on every day?

─There is what everyone calls “the soup”: a spot that falls, promotional for something… and a while ago in my life I learned the art of welding, that has saved me a little. I try to avoid being just another welder, or the one who makes a fence anymore. I like to go for the lamps, something handmade. Literally, I spend at least four months making a small short film for 15,000 or 20,000 pesos in salary, but for a fence for a house in one week I can earn between 80,000 and 90,000 pesos. Many times I do this to be able to finance myself, to compare those teams. Sometimes it shocks me to see myself dressed in overalls, all rusty, giving orders, but I think about it and I feel satisfied because I am also fighting for my work. I see other already established artists and figures in the history of art, it was not easy for them either and they had to do things to get ahead. I would like to make a living from art, but making a living from art has been universally complicated.

Almost at the end, our interview looks to the future, to new projects and the resolution to explore new techniques and narratives in animation. The creator expresses his desire to contribute significantly to animated cinema and to create a space where emerging artists can collaborate and learn.

─What direction would you like your career in animation to take?

─We are working on several projects, including one in tribute to disaster victims and in defense of animals. I want to explore more techniques, such as French animation, and continue telling stories that raise awareness and connect with the audience on an emotional level.

─Along with Bombs… you fed Puppy, what phase is he in?

─Now we are working on Puppy, with my script and direction. It is a tribute to the victims of the Saratoga Hotel and in defense of animals because in any type of disaster, dogs in this case are the spearhead in the search to rescue people. We are trying to finish it, which already has its budget.

Keiter claims to have more written projects, among them one designed for a medium-length film, titled Celina, set in the context of the 1932 cyclone, in the fishing town of Santa Cruz del Sur. Keep raising your goal.

“It's a story about roots. I want to make a connection with everything that is happening to us now: everyone is leaving, children, friends... Faced with the influence of a phenomenon, everyone decides their path. Despite the consequences, Celina decides to stay. I feel it is a necessary story. I intend it as a poetic work. I want to move away a little from what I have done, investigate, search, venture into the technique of French animation, of watercolors and loose strokes. “I want to experience it all.”

Through the networks and among friends, your version of Dodo also begins to have a life of its own, that bird-shaped character who disappears because he is stupid, he is a symbol of the extinction of species.

─Why don't you animate your own Dodo yet?

─I created a character during one of the many blackouts. How could I say that he was stubborn and it occurred to me to represent that through a Martian or a bug tired of his planet, who has considered the idea of moving and at the same time does not want to do so. My Dodo is a little character for whom everything goes wrong. It is something very commercial, although I have worked really hard. It would be good from time to time to do a Dodo chapter. He ended up being a kind of tender figure and when you see things going wrong for him, you say “oh, poor thing.” At the moment it is the name of my production company. I was working with Henry at Palma Film, but I decided to start from scratch. Therefore, with Sand Bombs, Dodo Studio emerges.

─But things haven't turned out that bad for you...

─No, no, no, no, no, but one always has that thing of wanting to improve oneself, and that strength that he has for wanting to do things, which in his case to make it more attractive, one complicates it. For the first time he comes out with Bombas de Arena and from there, from Dodo Studio, I plan to create a space. The Plastic Arts students at the Vicentina de la Torre Academy are interested in participating in a project like this.

“I feel that we can do more for animated films. Animation cinema at the national level has declined a bit. Since the loss of the figure of Juan Padrón there begins to be less content. Many people are recognizing what we are doing here in Camagüey. When I presented the Development Fund, they published the stills in their WhatsApp group, and producers in Havana were surprised because they didn't think that was being done here.”

─When does it premiere? What could be the path for the work?

─ From Havana we are planning the premiere, but I must finish the making of. It's a small product and moving people to watch nine minutes is not rational with the current situation. I want to return to what was done with Pigs (2021), which we accompanied with an exhibition of the work process and it has moved a lot, right now it is in Holguín. The premiere of Bombas de Arena (Sand Bombs) will include the making-of, the exhibition and a mini-concert by the Kpricho Duo, because the final song is by Harold Díaz and Ada Naranjo. Alma, the song, was written.

─When you started with the idea of Bombs… you didn't even dream of being a dad, but you're ready. To what extent does knowing that there is a little creature on the way that reacts to your stimuli from that womb also change the feeling with which you looked at and created the children in the short?

─Yes, the change and impact was real. I have always had a paternal feeling, I like children, disciplined ones. I talked a lot but I behaved well. What we teach and how we teach it educates the generation that comes after us. Right now we are seeing a generation that makes me question if they were educated for behaviors that they would not have done. What is happening? How are we going to teach that child the same theme of the work, of violence, of war, that we really affect other people?

“I have seen myself in situations on the street and I have reacted like a father. I was in Holguín for an event. I love sweets and wherever I see a snack bar I stop. I was walking and a boy asked me for money. I swallowed dryly. A child had never asked me for money. In Cuba, less. I quickly analyzed it and said no, I can't give him money. If he is here it could be because of two things: he wants money to eat a sweet or because there is something behind it and I had already been warned. I asked him, “Let's see, do you want to eat some candy?” He chose a piquinini that they call ponqué there. It cost 40 pesos. I bought him two. He asked me for 10 and I gave him 80, but I felt satisfied. That destroyed me inside in many ways and the fact of thinking that my son is coming makes me more sensitive than I already was. Becoming a dad and at the same time releasing a work defending peace and children is leaving a profound mark on me.”

─Finally, what message do you hope the public receives from Bombas de Arena (Sand Bombs)?

─I hope it inspires reflection on the consequences of war and how it affects the most innocent. I want it to be a call to empathy and action, to prevent these disasters from continuing to occur, to rescue the consciousness of peace from the rubble.

Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez