2024-04-28 01:38:49
Text: Editorial Cuba Noticias 360
A portrait of the 1994 immigration crisis in Cuba from the perspective of a teenager constitutes the film “Agosto”, which will be shown this Friday in Havana.
“Agosto” is the debut feature of director Armando Capó and delves into the human drama and agonies of a young man who lives through the difficult economic and political circumstances that led to the migratory crisis of 1994, known as the “rafters crisis.” , which had as a prelude to the August 5 protests on the Malecón by hundreds of opponents of the government.
After the demonstrations, the Cuban government allowed thousands of people to leave on rafts and other rustic boats towards the United States to seek a better future for themselves and their families.
The protagonist of the film, less than 20 years old, sees how his closest friends and neighbors leave Cuba until he is practically left alone.
Graduated from the International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños (EICTV), Armando Capó has stated that the film has autobiographical overtones in some way.
“In my town there were three sources of news, television loaded with slogans, Radio Martí almost clandestine and rumors. Within the rumors every day there was an attempt to illegally leave, strange things happened in Havana or a neighbor’s family had almost completely left. At that time my greatest wish was to learn to dance, a new pair of shoes and a bacteria (shirt). If I succeeded, I could have sex and reveal the most important mystery of my adolescence. One day, the rafters arrived at the closest beach to the house and with the same tranquility as other times I went down to watch them as they assembled their raft, finished the preparations and left. Something was recorded in my memory, it persisted until it became a film,” said the director in a press release distributed by the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry.
The film will be released in Cuba after being shown at important international film festivals and events in the United States and Europe, where it has achieved recognition from specialized critics.
At the Seattle Latin Film Festival, in the United States, it was awarded last year in the feature film section and won the Choral First Feature at the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, in 2019.