Programme 2024
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Event: Havana Reports – Perspectives from 45 years of the film festival – Monday 11 March 6pm
Screen Cuba and Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image present Screening of documentary ‘Havana Report’ (1986) about Havana’s film festival. Plus Q&A with the directors Michael Chanan and Holly Aylett, hosted by Dr Janet McCabe, Programme Director MA Film Programming and Curating. Followed by panel discussion featuring special guest Tania Delgado direct from Cuba, director…
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Andy de la Tour to host Q&A at ‘Los Hermanos’ screening, Friday 15 March
What could be better? Friday night at the Festival, viewing The Brothers/Los Hermanos with its magnificent music – both classical and jazz – as two Cuban brothers struggle to perform together despite the US blockade. And more is in store. Following the screening, we are delighted that actor and writer Andy de la Tour will…
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Screen Cuba presents Cuentos de un día más/Tales of One More Day – 6 stories by emerging young filmmakers
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 by young emerging directors which reveal that while everything seems to stop during the COVID pandemic, the human spirit lives on. Made in just 28 days, with four…
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Screen Cuba presents: La Super by Ernesto Piña, the animation superheroine
It’s a first for Cuba! An animated feature film with an unforgettable heroine, La Super, who empowers others to confront violence against women. Yudeisi, a young chemistry teacher, is committed to justice, and with the help of a female warrior spirit, she becomes a slightly hesitant superhero able to transform violent men by hypnotising them and clarifying…
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Screen Cuba presents: Yuli The Carlos Acosta Story
The unmissable award-winning film Yuli was inspired by the life of Carlos Acosta, one of the greatest dancers in Cuban ballet history. Directed by Iciar Bollaín with Paul Laverty as script writer, the film is noted for its music, cinematography and outstanding choreography. The film begins as Carlos, nicknamed Yuli by his father, is rebelling…
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Screen Cuba presents: Los Hermanos / The Brothers
The Brothers is a brilliantly-crafted film that affirms the power of art, in this case music. This documentary tracks the lives of two Cuban brothers, both virtuoso musicians. Illmar López-Gavilán leaves Cuba for further tuition, ending up as a violinist in the US, while his younger brother Aldo wins recognition for his extraordinary talent as a…
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Film specialists invited from Cuba
Screen Cuba is delighted to announce the two Cuban film specialists from Havana invited to participate in the Festival. Both guests will be available for Q&A sessions and to meet audiences more informally in the cinema’s Garden Bar following screenings. Tania Delgado Fernández is the new Director of the prestigious International Festival of the New…
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Screen Cuba presents: Habana Selfies by Arturo Santana
This unmissable urban comedy with melancholic, romantic and absurd touches is told in six stories that form portraits of Havana. The thread is a car trip through night-time Havana interrupted. The music soundtrack reinforces the connections. The director Santana dedicated it to his city on its 500th birthday saying “I tried by every means, to be…
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Screen Cuba presents: De Cierta Manera/ One way or another by Sara Gomez
Sara Gomez, a genuinely original filmmaker and the first female director at the Cuban Cinema Institute (ICAIC), passionately explores everyday life with all its turmoil in the revolution’s early days. Female and black, Gomez was committed to the revolution and to changing society by creating a new cinematic language that addressed the contemporary themes of…
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Screen Cuba presents: La Muerte de un Burocrata / The Death of a Bureaucrat by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
This classic film satirises how red tape in the revolution affects the everyday lives of its people. As a badge of honour, a model worker is buried with his labour card in his pocket. But his widow needs it to claim the benefits she is entitled to. The film traces the family’s often hilarious Kafka-esque…
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Screen Cuba presents: Escena Eliminada / Blank by Daniel Santoyo
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…
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Screen Cuba presents: …Y Tenemos Sabor / …And we’ve got flavour by Sara Gómez
Sara Gómez is a participant-observer in this rich documentary from 1967 about the origins of Afro Cuban music experienced through the instruments used. The film consists of short interviews, footage of impromptu street performances and some studio recordings. Gómez’s commitment to featuring multiple voices in the post-revolutionary society results in a fascinating history of how…
SCREEN CUBA, 15-28 March 2026, LONDON & BEYOND 