Screen Cuba presents the UK premiere of this innovative film that is under the general direction of renowned filmmaker, Fernando Peréz. It comprises six independent short films revealing that while everything seems to stop during the COVID pandemic, the human spirit lives on.  Created in just 28 days, with four women amongst the six directors, each piece tells how individuals survive the anguish and uncertainty of the harsh days of lockdown.  The films share the common theme of love as feelings of sadness, loneliness, fear, anger and hope are explored. A young girl tries to protect her pet dove; Paloma arrives at a decaying house; ex-prisoner Ernesto begins work at a quarantined cinema; Mara delivers drinks to people’s homes; Gaby takes photographs from her balcony; Gallo, disturbs his neighbours with his trumpet playing.

The film consists of:

La trenza, by Rosa María Rodríguez;

The girl with the birds, by Alán González;

Mercury, by Carolina Vega;

He and She, by Yoel Infante;

The days, by Katherine T. Gavilán and Sheyla Pool; and Gallo, by Eduardo Eimil.

Awards:

2023, Latin America and Iberia Film Festival Yale, nominee, Jury Prize, Best Film

2023, Global Film Festival Noida India, winner, Award of Distinction

2022, Havana Film Festival New York, winner, Havana Star, Best Film

Cast: Paula Alí, Héctor Noas, Yailene Sierra, Carlos Luis González, Roque Moreno, Belissa Cruz, Mario Guerra, Beatriz Viñas.

The film has been paired with:

Blank (Escena Eliminada / Blank, Daniel Santoyo, Cuba 2022, 21min, Spanish with English subtitles)

Young filmmaker Daniel Santoyo directs this innovative short about a new pandemic that is sweeping the world which causes some of the dead to return to life. As a journalist is filmed showing a new facility to house bodies in an attempt to contain the disease, the camera inadvertently reveals the awakening of a woman’s corpse. When the cameraman departs momentarily, the recording unintentionally continues. This ‘film within a film’ sets up an exploration of relations between the generations, as the limits of sacrifice and the responsibility for death are explored.

Proceeds from the Solidarity ticket will to go to Cuban film institute (ICAIC) projects including restoration of classic films.