Armed with only cell phones to bear witness to their journey, hundreds of Cubans documented their crossing from Colombia into Panama in hopes of entering the US. Most selling all their possessions to afford the trip, they crossed the treacherous Darién Gap jungle, enduring harsh conditions and eluding human and drug traffickers—only to land in a new kind of nightmare. Cuban director Marcel Beltrán has expertly pieced together over a hundred hours of cell phone footage to show their perilous journey and firsthand account.
Director:Marcel Beltrán
Year of production: 2020
Countries: Cuba, Brazil, Colombia
Running Time: 80’
Programming
Monday December 4th
18:30 (GMT+1)
Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB)
C/ de Montalegre, 5, 08001 Barcelona, Spain
Thursday December 7
19:30h (GMT+1)
Maison de l’Amérique Latine
217 Bd Saint-Germain, 75007 Paris, France
Friday December 8
17:00h (GMT-3)
Cinemateca Brasileira
Largo Senador Raul Cardoso, 207
Vila Mariana / SP, Brazil.
Friday December 8
19:00h (GMT-4)
Florida International University (FIU)
Graham Center, Room 150, FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus. Miami, United States
Sunday December 10
21:00h (GMT-3)
Centro Cultural General San Martín
Sarmiento 1551, C1042 ABC, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Production: Marcel Beltrán, Paula Gastaud
Genre: Documentary
Language: Spanish
Production Companies: Mediocielo Films, Marinca Filmes, Inercia Películas
Photography: Marcel Beltrán
Screenplay: Marcel Beltrán
Editing: Marcel Beltrán
Sound Design: Homer Mora
Festival Selections: IDFA - Luminous, Locarno - Open Doors, Hot Docs, Trinidad + Tobago Film Festival (Best Documentary Feature), Cinémartinique (Best Documentary Feature), Buenos Aires International Documentary Film Festival - FIDBA (Best Film in Ibero-American Competition), MiradasDoc (Best Documentary Feature), Miami Film Festival, Festival Internacional de Cine de Guadalajara, AFI Latin American Film Festival.
Director's bio:
Marcel Beltrán is a Cuban filmmaker currently living and working in São Paulo, Brazil. With film studies at EICTV (Cuba) and Concordia University (Canada), his films have screened internationally at festivals such as IDFA, Hot Docs, MoMA Doc Fortnight, DOC NYC, RIDM, FICG, Busan, DOK Leipzig, Málaga, among others. Founder of Mediocielo Films, professor at EICTV and Chavón | The School of Design, consultant for projects in development at international level and facilitator for sustainability in the arts.