Cuba

Strawberry & Chocolate

This charming Cuban film details the unusual relationship between the flamboyant, educated Diego (Jorge Perugorría) and the young, homophobic, pro-Revolution David (Vladimir Cruz). Miserable at being dumped by his girlfriend, David at first spurns the attentions of Diego; however, at the prompting of his Communist roommate, Miguel (Francisco Gattorno), he cultivates an acquaintanceship with Diego in order to investigate his liberal leanings. Of course, Diego's cultured ways prove fascinating to the younger man and a true friendship grows. Add the slightly crazy neighbor Nancy (Mirta Ibarra), who frequently attempts suicide, as romantic fodder for David, and this playful drama becomes a heartwarming film. Disputed in its own country, this film was the first Cuban picture to be nominated for best foreign picture at the Academy Awards. --Jenny Brown

Robert Redford and Miramax Films proudly present STRAWBERRY & CHOCOLATE, the irresistible comedy treat that's received outstanding critical acclaim! Meet David -- a naive young college kid who's out on his own for the very first time. With the help of two extraordinary new friends, David soon learns everything there is to know about the things that aren't taught in school! Diego is the writer who teaches him about the passion of life ... and Nancy is the woman who teaches him about the passion of love! Nominated for the Academy Award(R) as Best Foreign Language Film in 1994, STRAWBERRY & CHOCOLATE is a deliciously fun-filled celebration of life at its entertaining best!

Guantanamera

Waiting List

At a rundown bus station in rural Cuba, the line of passengers waiting just keeps getting longer. The problem is that every bus that passes by is already full. Their only hope is to wait for the station's bus to be fixed. As the disparate group settles in, relationships start forming between the passengers: Emilio (Vladimir Cruz), a young engineer, becomes smitten with a beautiful young woman (Thaimi Alvarino) who is en route to meet her Spanish fiancé, a blind man (Jorge Perugorria) gets support from the others to go to the head of the line. Frustration and disorder reign when the one bus brakes down and no one can leave. Resigned to working together, the group magically transforms the station into a beautiful place where no one wants to leave. Award-winning director Juan Carlos Tabío (Strawberry and Chocolate) successfully blends magical realism and social commentary in this crowd-pleasing romantic comedy. DVD: 5.1, Interview/Making Of, subtitle control, trailer, weblinks

En la Puta Vida (Tricky Life)

Bitter Sugar

In what may be the angriest portrait of Cuba ever made, director Leon Ichaso (Crossover Dreams) charts the journey of one young man from patriot to disillusioned dropout to angry rebel. Gustavo (René Lavan) is an idealistic young Marxist scholar who dreams of attending the University of Prague. When he falls for an earthy dancer with a more pragmatic view of her homeland, who plans to escape to Florida, his ideals are systematically chipped away in the face of poverty, repression, corruption, and police brutality until it all becomes too much for him to bear. A far cry from the more romantic work of Tomás Gutiérrez Alea (Strawberry and Chocolate), this film speaks volumes about a generation of exiles burning with anger and hate for Castro and his regime. It's also manipulative and heavy-handed, with Gustavo less a hero than a straw figure poised for a fall, and it's far less revealing than such self-critical Cuban features as Portrait of Teresa and Memories of Underdevelopment. But its vivid and passionate feelings of betrayal can hardly be dismissed. Ichaso shot portions of the film in Cuba and smuggled the footage out, but Santo Domingo doubles for Havana through the bulk of the feature. --Sean Axmaker

Fidel: The Untold Story

Whether dismissed as a relic or revered as a savior, all agree that Fidel Castro, nearing 44 years as the leader of Cuba, is one of the most influential and controversial figures of our time. Rarely are Americans given a chance to see inside the world of this socialist leader. The new documentary film FIDEL by Estela Bravo offers a unique opportunity to view the man through exclusive interviews with Castro himself, historians, public figures and close friends, with rare footage from the Cuban State archives.

Alice Walker, Harry Belafonte, and Sydney Pollack discuss Fidel as a person, while former and current US government figures including Arthur Schlesinger, Ramsey Clark, Wayne Smith, Congressman Charles Rangel and a former CIA agent offer political and historical perspectives on Castro and the long-standing US embargo against Cuba. Family members and close friends, including Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, offer a window into the rarely seen personal life of Fidel.

Bravo's camera captures Fidel Castro swimming with bodyguards, visiting his childhood home and school, joking with Nelson Mandela, Ted Turner and Muhammad Ali, meeting Elian Gonzalez, and celebrating his birthday with members of the Buena Vista Social Club. Juxtaposing the personal anecdotal with history of the Cuban revolution and the fight to survive the post-Soviet period, FIDEL tells a previously untold story and presents a new view of this compelling figure.

Honey for Oshun

Nada+ (Nada Mas)

Bottle-blonde Cuban pixie Carla (Thais Valdés) has worked at the post office for five years. It isn't a friendly place and she's lonely (her family lives in the US). When she accidentally damages a piece of mail, she recreates the missive in her own words. It's a love letter from a student to a professor and Carla helps bring them together. Then she opens and rewrites other letters, so that their meanings become more clear (sure, it's illegal, but it gives her life purpose). Along the way, she finds love with Christian Bale-lookalike César (Nacho Lugo). Set in Havana, the award-winning Nada+, or Nada Mas ("nothing more"), is shot in eye-catching black and white with dabs of luminous color and touches of stop-motion animation. Though the secondary cast overacts wildly at times, writer/director Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti's feature debut reveals a keen eye and a vivid imagination. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Carla, a postal worker in Havana, fulfills her romantic longings by opening letters and rewriting them into passionate prose before sending them out again to their intended recipients. After her co-worker Cesar catches her, Carla turns her amorous talents on him. But the dictatorial new postmaster and her overexcited assistant begin to suspect something's up. Cuba's 2003 Oscar entry, Nada+ combines visual humor, poetry, satire of Cuban bureaucracy and a lighthearted love story.

Soneros de Verdad - Sounds of Cuba

Soneros de Verdad (Sounds of Cuba) is a full-length live performance featuring the stars of the Buena Vista Social Club including Pio Leiva, Guillermo Rubalcaba and Julio Fernandez that blends traditional Spanish sounds with fiery Afro-Cuban rhythms. Songs include: Chan Chan, Francisco Guayabal, Danzon y Son (instrumental), A Buena Vista Barrio de la Habana, Instrumental y Bolero, Pena me da, El Cuarto de Tula

Vampires in Havana

The third feature by Cuban director Juan Padrón, Vampires in Havana (1985) is a silly, raunchy spoof of horror and gangster films. Wolfgang Amadeus von Dracula, the nephew of the famous count, invents a formula that allows vampires to endure sunlight--which he tests on his nephew Joseph "Pepe" Emmanuel. It works so well that Pepe is completely unaware of his true nature; he plays jazz trumpet in a nightclub and joins a cell plotting to overthrow a repressive general. Pepe soon finds himself dodging the general's inept henchmen and rival vampire syndicates who want the valuable formula. Drawn in a simple, cartoony style that suggests a cross between the work of Zagrebfilm and the Mad Magazine cartoons of Sergio Aragones, Vampires in Havana offers American audiences a rare glimpse of the work of one of Cuba's leading animators. Unrated; suitable for ages 16 and up: Nudity, sexual humor, profanity, violence, ethnic stereotypes. --Charles Solomon