The Tenth Annual San Diego Latino Film Festival is proud to continue its tradition of highlighting the very best features, shorts, and documentaries produced in Cuba and/or about the Cuban experience. SDLFF 2003 is also honored to have acclaimed Cuban actor Enrique Molina (Un Paraiso Bajo las Estrellas & Hacerse el Sueco) attending this year's festival. Mr. Molina will be present for the San Diego premiere screening of the award-winning short film, Video de Familia.
Features:
Fidel
Director: Estela Bravo
USA, 2002, 35 mm, 91 min.
English and Spanish with subtitles
Award-winning filmmaker Estela Bravo covers forty years of the Cuban Revolution and provides a unique opportunity to consider one of the most influential and controversial figures of our time in this fascinating documentary. Using rare archival and interview footage of Cuban leader Fidel Castro and featuring perspectives from such figures as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Nelson Mandela, Angela Davis, Ramsay Clark and Muhammed Ali, Fidel paints an intimate portrait of Castro’s transformation from idealistic intellectual to revolutionary leader to politician and finally to anti-imperialist elder statesman. Features exclusive footage spanning Castro’s entire life and career culled from ICAIC and the Cuban State archive.
Screenings:
Wednesday, March 19, 6:00 pm
Friday, March 21, 7:30 pm
Saturday, March 22, 2:30 pm
Yo Soy del Son a la Salsa
Director: Rigoberto Lopez
Cuba, 1997, 107 min.
Spanish with subtitles
Cuban salsa sensation Oscar de Leon escorts us through the vibrant musical history of salsa, one of today's most popular Latin music styles. This musically-charged documentary examines the social, political and cultural realities that gave birth to a sound that has swept across borders worldwide. From the dancehalls of Havana to the nightclubs of New York City in the 1950s, the story of the music is the story of the people. Featuring riveting archival performance footage and interviews with luminaries such as Celia Cruz, Isaac Delgado, Jose "Cheo" Feliciano, Ruben Blades and the late great Tito Puente, From Son to Salsa is a treat for fans of this fiery genre of Latin music.
Screenings:
Saturday, March 15, 11:00 am
Wednesday, March 19, 10:00 pm
Saturday, March 22, 11:00 am
Mas Alla del Mar
Director: Lisandro Perez-Rey
USA, 2002, Video, 80 min.
English and Spanish with subtitles
This feature length documentary uses archival footage and contemporary interviews to present the story of the 1980 Mariel Boatlift. What began with a bus crashing through the gates of the Peruvian Embassy in Havana culminated in an exodus in which more than 125,000 Cubans left their homeland in boats bound for Key West. This fascinating moment in the history of the US and Cuba still resonates after more than two decades.
Screenings:
Saturday, March 15, 6:00 pm
Thursday, March 20, 6:00 pm
Los Zafiros: Music from the Edge of Time
Director: Lorenzo De Stefano
USA, 2002, Video, 90 min.
English and Spanish with subtitles
A loving documentary tribute to a legendary Cuban band from the 1960s whose infectious mix of Cuban rhythms and American doo-wop became the soundtrack for the post-revolutionary generation. Los Zafiros, whose music blended 50s doo-wop stylings with R&B, Son, Calypso, Bossa Nova and other Latin, African and Carribbean rhythms, were regarded as heroes in Cuba and became a cult sensation in Europe. Though virtually unknown in the United States until the 1998 release of their compilation album "Bossa Cubana," their music has been close to the hearts of many Cuban Americans. Rare documentary performance footage, historical clips and interviews with the two surviving members evoke nostalgia for a simpler and yet equally complex time.
Screenings:
Friday, March 14, 10:15 pm
Monday, March 17, 10:15 pm
Sunday, March 23, 8:00 pm
Shorts:
Video De Familia
(Dir. Humberto Padrón, Narrative, 2002, Video 47 min, Cuba, Spanish w/ subtitles)
A Cuban family's video postcard to a son in the U.S. gets a little too personal when a secret is discovered. Starring acclaimed Cuban actor Enrique Molina (Un Paraiso Bajo las Estrellas & Hacerse el Sueco). Mr. Molina will be present for the screening of Video de Familia.
Screening: (¡Cuba Cuba!, Saturday, March 22, 6:00 pm )
18 with Che
(Dir. Douglas Houston, 2002, Narrative, Video, 14:20 min, USA, English)
Che Guevara and Fidel Castro play a round of golf in this hilarious satire set in 1959.
Screening: (CHE, AMOR Y LA VIRGEN, Saturday, March 22, 1:00 pm )
Pan y Libertad
(Dir. Yvette Pita, Documentary, 2002, Video, 9 min, USA, Spanish and English w/ subtitles)
A documentary about a Cuban refugee, his new American girlfriend and the family he left behind.
Screening: (¡Cuba Cuba!, Saturday, March 22, 6:00 pm )
Far From Cuba
(Dir. Angelica Allende, Documentary, 2002, Video 26:30 min, USA, Spanish and English w/subtitles)
Documentary examining parents and children divided as a result of "Operation Pedro Pan," in which parents sent 14,000 children to the US via the Cuban Children's Program of the 1960s.
Screening: (¡Cuba Cuba!, Saturday, March 22, 6:00 pm )
Mi Deseo
(Dir. Julio Bañuelos, 2002, Narrative, Video, 19:55 min, Cuba, Spanish w/ subtitles)
A prostitute desires to change her situation on the streets of Old Havana.
Screening: (MUSICALS, MAGIC Y DESEO, Sunday, March 23, 3:30 pm )
