| Islands / I Lands, NOW—Vista de Cuba |
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Following Suite Habana
It has been nearly eight years since the 2003 Cuban release of Fernando Pérez’s Havana Suite, a film that drew much attention both in Cuba and internationally. While continuing to embrace the themes that flow through Havana Suite, namely “what are dreams?” and “living in the present,” a new generation of filmmakers are confronting Cuban reality from their own perspective, examining what has changed, what has not changed, and the shimmer of peoples’ hopes and dreams. Despite at times restrictive material conditions, these filmmakers continue to explore their means of expression. This exploration, which overlaps with the fundamental questions of filmmaking, provides a glimpse into the present and future Cuban cinema.
Sugar Curtain
El telón de azúcar- CUBA, SPAIN, FRANCE / 2006 / Spanish / Color / Video (Original: 35mm) / 80 min
Director, Photography: Camila Guzmán Urzúa
Editing: Claudio Martínez, Camila Guzmán Urzúa
Music: Omar Sosa
Producers: Nathalie Trafford, Camila Guzmán Urzúa
The ideals and values of the generation born and raised during the so-called golden age of the Cuban Revolution, from the late 1970s through the 1980s, were crushed by the later collapse of the socialist system to the east and by social and economic paralysis in their own country. Having emigrated to Cuba from Chile with her parents as a child, the director as an adult interviews her former classmates and, through words that honestly and nostalgically recount their childhoods, brings to the fore sentiments and realities rooted deeply in her generation.
Looking for Havana
Buscándote Havana- CUBA / 2006 / Spanish / Color / Video / 21 min
Director: Alina Rodríguez Abreu
Photography: Ernesto Granados
Editing: Abel Raymond, Sorokhtin
Music: Moisés y Dayron
Producer: Nomar González Pastrana
Every year, Cubans from the eastern part of the island immigrate to Havana in search of a better life, defying state laws that restrict where people can live. This compelling documentary offers a revealing glimpse into their lives and struggles in their illegal settlements on the outskirts of the capital.
Martí
- CUBA / 2007 / Spanish / Color / Video / 13 min
Director, Script, Photography: Alana Simoes
Editing: Mariana Barioni
Sound: Susana Barriga
Producer: Julio Eroz Nieto
Production Company, Source: EICTV
A man whose life has been shaped by a fate full of contradictions and a series of disgraceful events now lives quietly with his lover, after having completed his sentence for a crime that any human being would commit in such circumstances. He speaks to the camera remorsefully of his past life.
Dual Me
Yo dual- CUBA, MEXICO / 2007 / Spanish / Color / Video / 15 min
Director, Script: Alana Simoes
Photography: Daniela Cajías
Editing: Tainá Menezes
Music: Ivara Peña
Producer: Angel Álvarez
Production Company, Source: EICTV
This documentary on a Cuban artist deals with the duality of his/her personality, which reflects aspects of his/her country. This film won the Best International Documentary Award in the Student Category at the Cusco International Short Film Festival in Peru in 2008.
How to Build a Boat
Cómo construir un barco- CUBA / 2007 / Spanish / Color / Video / 13 min
Director: Susana Barriga
Photography: Daniela Cajías
Editing: Mariana Barioni
Producer: Héctor Sahagún
Production Company, Source: EICTV
A group of Cuban fishermen, lovers of the sea, are working in the Cuba-U.S. border zone (between Santa Cruz del Norte and Florida). There they are affected by political differences and the permanent illegal emigration. Nevertheless, they try to go on being fishermen in their country.
The Illusion
- CUBA / 2008 / Spanish / Color / Video / 24 min
Director, Photography, Editing: Susana Barriga
Script: Susana Barriga, Fabio Meira
Sound: Nicolás Tsabertidis, Eduardo Cáceres, Rubén Valdés
Producers: Susana Barriga, André Leao, Lloyd Peters, Catarina Da Via, Dave Rigby
Production Company, Source: EICTV
Susana tries to remember her father’s face. After 26 years imagining him, she followed him from Cuba to England and met him for the first time. Now all she has are a few hazy images recorded with her camera, together with the wish to repair the illusion that existed before she met him. Her expectation and the deep compassion she feels for her father after their long separation are strongly etched in the film.
The Lonely Beds
Las camas solas- CUBA / 2006 / Spanish / Color / Video / 14 min
Director, Script, Photography: Sandra Gómez
Editing: Rolando Colla
Music: Roberto Perdomo
Producer: Elena Pedrazzoli
Production Company, Source: Peacock Films
As a big hurricane approaches, the tenants of an old apartment house in Havana must evacuate, dragging all their things with them, leaving their empty beds behind . . .
Today Is the Future
El futuro es hoy- CUBA, SWITZERLAND / 2009 / Spanish / Color / Video / 35 min
Director, Script: Sandra Gómez
Photography: Sandra Gómez, Adrián Melis
Editing: Rolando Colla
Producer: Elena Pedrazzoli
Production Company, Source: Peacock Film
Life in Havana, suspended in a state of waiting. Seven characters express their complementary yet contradictory ideas about Cuba’s future. Some would like things to carry on as they are, while others hope for change. The characters are all associated with the Malecón, Havana’s sea wall, where the city opens out to the horizon. The documentary was filmed between 2006 and 2008.
Bohío
- CUBA / 2010 / Spanish / Color / Video / 14 min
Director: Carlos Y. Rodríguez
Producer: Pablo García
Production Company: Televisión Serrana
A young couple in eastern Cuba build their own bohío, a primitive hut made of sugar cane leaves and mud, and try to live in it with dignity.
Cuba Sentimental
- JAPAN / 2010 / Spanish, Japanese / Color / Video / 59 min
Director, Photography, Editing, Source: Tanuma Sachiko
Assistant Editor: Leonid López
Supervisor: Ichioka Yasuko
Music: Eduardo Martín
Some friends whom Sachi (the director) had met in Cuba later realized their desire to leave the country. As a woman says in the film, “it is like we set fire to the boats we came on”: Cubans lose residency 11 months after leaving the country. What made them leave, then? Sachi visits her friends, who are now scattered separately in different countries, and records their confidences.
Interview