The film “The oceans are the true continents” by the Italian director Tommaso Santambrogiowon the Bisato d’Oro Award for Best Director at the 80th Venice International Film Festival.
Shot in San Antonio de los Baños, the debut film features an entirely Cuban cast and was co-produced by the Italian companies Rosamont and RAI Cinema and the Cuban Cacha Films, founded by producer Claudia Calviño and director Carlos Lechuga.
The award was presented by independent critics at the Venice International Film Festival, which ended this Saturday.
According to the Italian magazine Venezia Today, the film interweaves three stories that emerge in the context of San Antonio De Los Baños, torn apart by heavy torrential rains and overwhelmed by the plight of its neighbors due to the economic crisis of recent decades. Where dreams and hopes for a better future save them.
“The main reason that motivated me to make a film about the Cuban situation is the desire to tell the reality of a country that is experiencing the largest migration crisis in its history, in which almost 8% of migrants (in terms of certified ones ) migrants live, which is very little known in Italy,” the director said.
Shot in black and white, the film attempts to “eliminate the patina created in the collective imagination of Cuba, sometimes seen only as an ideal, colorful and musical tourist destination, in order to draw attention to the popular reality of a country.” Crisis”.
According to independent media Rialta, “The Oceans…” deals with three stories that focus on issues of different generations, guided by different goals, but immersed in the complex social and economic fabric of Cuba.
The first story tells the experience of Alex and Edith, a young artist couple whose relationship is new due to their impending departure to Europe; The second film focuses on the friendship between Frank and Alain, two children who dream of living outside of Cuba. The third looks back on the days of Milagros, “an old woman who tries to ease her loneliness by remembering her husband, who died in the war in Angola.”