The Lost City

Colour, 35 mm
USA, 2005, 143 min
EP – European premiere
Section: Special Events

Synopsis

In his feature film directorial debut, Andy Garcia pays tribute to his native Cuba. The story is set in Havana in 1958 – a time auspicious for some but, for others, it was an era blighted by the government of dictator Batista. The radical revolutionary changes associated with Fidel Castro, however, bring about a drastic transformation for the narrator of the story, Fico Fellove, the owner of the nightclub El Tropico. Used to the lifestyle of his rich parents and the advantages of his social class, the man is painfully aware that the glittering and elegant world in which he grew up and which, for him, is symbolised by music, may have disappeared forever… Garcia’s project, inspired by the novel by Cuban writer Guillermo Cabrera Infante, who also wrote the screenplay and who died in February last year, has a lightly autobiographical quality. It took sixteen years for the idea to take shape, yet the film itself was made in a mere 35 days. Apart from Garcia as filmmaker, executive producer, score composer and lead role, the film features a series of well-known Hollywood faces. An important part of the story is given over to Cuban music, however, in which Garcia is well-versed as a director of music documentaries.

About the director

Andy Garcia (b. 1956, Havana, Cuba) is known chiefly as an actor with around fifty TV and film roles to his name. He was born on Cuba but, after Castro’s victory in 1961, he left with his parents for the USA. He studied at the International University in Florida, and in 1983 debuted in the film Blue Skies Again (dir. Richard Michaels). He became increasingly popular appearing in the crime drama The Untouchables (1987), The Godfather, Part 3 (1990 – Oscar and Golden Globe nomination) and Hero (1992). From the mid-1990s onwards he began profiling himself as a producer and production manager as well (e.g. Modigliani, dir. Mick Davis, 2004). He directed the documentary film Cachao... Like His Rhythm There Is No Other (1993) and a segment from the TV music project Nuestra Navidad (2003). The drama The Lost City (2005) is his feature film debut, for which he was also executive producer, score composer and lead role.