This is a film about DANCE and CHANGE. To see Cuba now is to see a place in flux, to bare witness to history and to get a glimpse into the people’s mix of emotions – anxiety, excitement, fear – over the coming shift. It is to observe mind-bending surreality, to see hints of modernity, such as the crowds of tourists and locals slumped over smart phones and huddled around public wifi spots, amid noisy, rumbling, half century old cars and tumbling down Spanish colonial buildings, the omnipresent reminder of a nation stuck in a time warp by the US imposed Embargo.
Dance has traditionally played a key role in keeping Cuban passion and spirits alive in the face of material poverty. It is embedded in their collective DNA from the moment tiny tots take their first hip swaying, pelvic thrusting steps on the dance floor to the agile elderly still strutting their stuff.
This film will provide poignant insights into the lives of three or four characters who now live in this new era of Cuba’s cultural change – through the lens of dance from the African rhythm influenced Rhumba to the popular, sensual youth dance Reggaeton.
Contact Frontline Films for a full synopsis.
Stage: Production
Director: David Bradbury
Producer: David Bradbury & Treena Lenthall
Funding History: Development Grant Screen NSW