Cuban Visions Program 4: Emerging Women Filmmakers

*Program will include other shorts by women, awaiting confirmation

Días de Diciembre (December Days) / Directed by Carla Valdés León / 45 min. / 2017 / Documentary Short / Spanish with English subtitles

Between 1975 and 1991 more than 400,000 Cuban soldiers and civilians sent to Angola in support of the country's left-wing government. Two thousand of them were killed. December Days shows some of the ways in which the mission to Angola—a massive solidarity effort from a small country—touched the lives of ordinary Cubans.

Frágil (Fragile) / Directed by Sheyla Pool / 15 min. / 2018 / Narrative Short / Spanish with English subtitles

A daughter, dedicated to the care of her mother with Alzheimer's, wants to feel her love, even if it’s just one last time. This need drives her down a dangerous path to discover that sometimes love can be the most capricious and bewildering of feelings.

Post-screening presentation: The screening will be followed by a conversation, moderated by AMI Director, Alexandra Halkin, featuring Cuban feminist film critics Danae Diéguez (El Ojo Sexuado) and Dr. Zaira Zarza. The three will discuss the landscape of Cuban film production for emerging women filmmakers. Specifically, they will touch on the progress and pitfalls faced by women directors in Cuba’s male dominated film industry and the current state of independent filmmaking on the island.

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Purchase a 5-Film Series Package here!

Cuban Visions is a new film series presented by Full Spectrum Features, the Americas Media Initiative, and Athenaeum Theatre Productions. Cuban Visions will present the work of Cuban filmmakers to Chicago audiences, providing a unique window into both early revolutionary and contemporary Cuban society.

The series will feature a diverse range of Cuban films including animation, short fiction, and documentaries, and cover issues such as racial inequity, the Cuban economy, Cuban internationalism, Afro-Cuban identity, women’s rights, and more. Each of the six screenings will be followed by panel discussions, featuring Cuban filmmakers, producers, journalists, film critics and scholars as well as U.S.-based academics and community stakeholders. These thought-provoking and rarely seen Cuban films will challenge U.S. audience’s long-held misconceptions about past and present Cuban reality.

Cuban Visions - Full Schedule:

Program 1: Racial Inequity and Class in a Changing Cuba
Program 2: LGBTQ Politics and Gay Marriage
Program 3: Economics 101
Program 4: Emerging Women Filmmakers
Program 5: Revolutionary Aspirations: Where Are We Now?
Program 6: The Personal is Political