FAQs

Those who wish to stay in Cuba longer can (for a small fee) apply for a 30 day extension at immigration in Havana. We will talk you through it.

You must get your own travel/medical insurance. You will need to show proof of this to the Cuban authorities upon entering the country. You will also need to provide details to the school.

Make sure the policy covers Cuba. We recommend purchasing an insurance plan that covers at least £10,000,000 in repatriation expenses. Please read up on some relevant guidance before purchasing insurance. Here you can see advice for British nationals on insurance when traveling abroad issued by the UK government.
Advice on foreign travel insurance

You may also want to take out separate insurance for your laptops / camera equipment if these are not protected by your travel insurance.

Yes! At the school you will be staying at the film school’s teachers apartments. You will normally have to share 2 to a room and 4 to an apartment (same sex). When in town, you will be staying in the heart of Havana, close to the Plaza Vieja at a well reviewed B&B or ‘casa particular’ as they are known in Cuba, with similar sharing arrangements.

Yes! It will not be a fine dining experience, but you will be provided with three healthy meals a day.

Scholarships are not available from the EICTV for the course. When available, scholarships are normally provided by the attendee’s home institution or university or by the attendee’s national government. Often there are pots of money available from private organisations for this type of course so you may want to do some research.

It is strongly advised to bring some form of video recording equipment with you.

When making your final piece you will be grouped with a few other students on the course. You will all be assigned the role of ‘Director’ and will need to work as a team in this role. Each team will then be assigned a professional camera crew, all of whom work in the Cuban film and TV industry. During filming with the crew (average 3 days) and during the editing process you are unlikely to need any equipment as the crew will be taking care of this.

However during the first few weeks you will be asked to work on film exercises and you may like to have access to your own camera and editing equipment. Students in the past have brought a range of different types of filming equipment – from semi-professional camcorders to smart phones. For editing, people have brought what they know best – the chief editor at the school likes to use Premiere, so if you have this programme great, but if not bring your laptop with iMovie or a similar free programme. There are also some interesting phone apps for editing movies on smart phones you may like to investigate if you don’t have any editing software. In the past students who don’t have their own equipment have teamed up with others who do, which has made for a mutually beneficial learning process in helping each other film and edit their own work.

Yes. At the end of the course you will be presented with a Diploma in Directing Documentary from the EICTV.