Country: Spain

Inside San Isidro

In November 2020, the rapper Denis Solís was kidnapped by the National Revolutionary Cuban Police. After a summary trial, he was sentenced to eight months in prison for the alleged crime of contempt. In response to this arbitrariness, a group of activists barracked in Havana in a house that served as the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement, an independent cultural organization to which the musician belonged. From there they began a peaceful protest despite the siege of the State Security police.

Katherine Bisquet

Katherine Bisquet (Ciudad Nuclear, Cuba, 1992). Writer, documentary filmmaker and activist. B.A. in Spanish from the University of Havana. She has published the poetry books “Algo aquí se descompone” (Colección Sur Editores, Havana, 2014) and “Uranio empobrecido!” (Rialta Ediciones, Querétaro, Mexico, 2021). She has also directed the film “En San Isidro” (Inside San Isidro, short documentary, CCC Collective, 2023). Co-creator of Rialta Magazine’s column Cuban Cinema in Quarantine (CCC, 2020-2022), an initiative aimed at the research, preservation, and promotion of Cuban cinema. She was a resident at Künstlerhaus Bethanien, 2021/2022, Berlin, DE. Winner of the 2022 Ciudad de Alcalá Poetry Prize, Spain, with the poetry book “Esquizopatria”. Selected for one of the scholarships of the Florida International University program for threatened Cuban scholars in the humanities to carry out the literary project “La blanca memoria”. She currently resides in Madrid after being exiled from her country by the Cuban State Security.

Souvenir

A melancholic cry denouncing poverty and repression in Cuba against those who justify the failures of the regime.

Teteo

Marla, a reggaeton dancer from Cuba, suffers from body dysmorphia, a demon she lives with and that prevents her from doing what she loves the most, dancing. On a night out with her friends, the demon appears many times: it makes her feel uncomfortable in her own skin and makes her aware of other people’s gaze. However, this time she has decided not to give up and confront her own reflection.

Aurora D’Errico

Aurora D’Errico (Barcelona) is an audiovisual artist. Graduated from Pompeu Fabra University in Audiovisual Communication and from The International Film and Television School of Cuba as a Documentary Filmmaker. Her work focuses mostly on womanhood, exploring themes like the relationship with our bodies, trauma and female friendship. She uses film photography and moving image as a medium, working with fiction, documentary and more hybrid formats.
She has directed the short films “The new normal” (documentary, 2021) and Teteo (fiction, 2023) and is now working on her first feature film.

Future

Daniel and Adrian are two friends who like to frequent a place in ruins located on the Havana seafront. As Daniel is about to leave the country, they decide to spend one last time together in this place.

Amanda Cots Martínez

Amanda Cots (1992) is a director, cinematographer and photographer based in Spain. Graduated from EICTV (Cuba) in the specialty of direction of photography. As a cinematographer, she has collaborated on both fiction and documentary projects that have been selected in important film festivals such as San Sebastián, Visions du Reel or Biarritz. His work as a photographer has been part of Descubrimientos Photoespaña, MAPS within Getxophoto festival and has had a solo exhibition in La Cometa Gallery, Bogotá. As a director, she has co-directed with Angel Suarez the documentary short film ”Twilight dream” and the short film ”Futuro”.

Gabriel Alemán

Graduated in Audiovisual Communication. He has made several works as director, producer and photographer highlighting, “Tundra” (2021, short fiction film, selected in SUNDANCE, Curta Cinema, Locarno, Best Short Film Award at New York City Independent Film Festival 2022, Best Photography Award at International Film Festival of Merida and Yucatan), “La sed humana” ( 2017, short fiction film, 17th edition of the Muestra Joven ICAIC: Audience Award, best cinematography, best art direction and mention for best short fiction film. Best Fiction and Best Cinematography at Almacén de la Imagen 2018. Selected in 40th edition of Havana International Film Festival, World Cinema Amsterdam , Latino & Iberian Film Festival at Yale University), “Autómatas” (2016, short fiction film, Best Short Film at United Latino Film Festival in Cleveland, Honorable Mention at NAU Festival de Cinema e Artes de Expressao Ibérica de Portugal,Official Selection at Américas Film Festival in New York, Hendaia Film Festival in France, 12 Months Films Festival Los Angeles), “El Condor” (2016, Official Selection Los Angeles Cinefest, 16th edition of Muestra Joven ICAIC). He currently completed his short film “El espacio roto” and is part of the creative group Estudio ST.

Between two islands

Sayu is a teenage girl struggling between divergent realities to shape her identity. On the one hand she is a Cuban who skates and loves to sing, but on the other hand she is a Japanese whose family wants to take her back to Japan to give her a better future. Her daily life is characterized by a crossroads of irreconcilable paths.