Lizette Villa, the Rebel lens of Cuban cinema

Cuban filmmaker Lizette Villa believes there is “no age for creation.” Born in the working-class district of El Cerro in Havana, she has built an award-winning career with more than 50 prizes, using documentary cinema to give voice to the marginalized, the discriminated, and the invisible.

Met on the sidelines of the Algiers International Film Festival, Villa describes her work as both an act of listening and rebellion. Starting out as a music assistant, she soon felt the need to tell her own stories and challenge a film world long dominated by men. “I do not ask for equality, I ask for justice,” she says, stressing that institutions remain largely male-led despite women’s daily sacrifices.

For Villa, women’s underrepresentation in cinema is a global issue rooted in machismo and patriarchy. She denounces a standardized, stereotyped world and defends a cinema that preserves subjectivity, emotion, and truth. At 77, she says she still feels young and fully committed to creation, especially when it comes to human rights.

Among her current projects is Painting the Cuban Economy in Purple, which highlights the persistent exclusion of women from economic life despite existing laws. She is also deeply involved in Proyecto Palomas, a sociocultural initiative she founded over a decade ago to promote peace, dialogue, and diversity. The project includes a hands-on film training program for young people, passing on cinema as a tool for social change and shared humanity.