Madre Cuba

Colour, 35 mm
Spain, 2004, 95 min
Section: Documentary Competition

Synopsis

This documentary investigates the state of one stratum of Cuban society. At any moment, the most insignificant event in the everyday lives of Havana’s urchin children can change into a painful and insurmountable obstacle. In this partially dramatized documentary (shot illegally in “Cuba Libre”), we enter the world of a 30-year-old photographer for 24 hours. A mother, she is forced to experience intense pain every moment of the day due to the permanent loss of her son. The heroine’s lacerating loneliness is exacerbated by the sadness, apathy and emptiness of the reality of Cuban life. The meditative stream of images intermingles with excerpts from the work of legendary Cuban poet José Martí.

About the director

Salomón Shang (b. 1976, Barcelona) studied direction, editing and acting at Centre d´Estudis Cinematografics de Catalunya. In 1997 he shot his first short film, Te Quiero, pero no mucho. Two years later he realized his first feature, Después de la Luz. In 2000, he and J. L. García founded Producciones Kaplan, the production company where Shang completed his second feature, Metropolitan, screened at the festivals in Moscow and Berlin, among others. At present he is working on a new project, El Viaje de la Luz.