Cue the Cuban zombies
Just as the Cuban Revolution turns 50, a new rebel uprising is about to take over the streets of Havana, but this time it’s headed by hundreds of zombies. Panic reigns in the city, and the Communist government blames dissidents financed by the United States. Seeing the chaos, a Cuban slacker decides to open a small business. His slogan: “Juan of the Dead. We kill your loved ones. What can we do for you?”
So goes the plot of the Cuban comedy horror film “Juan of the Dead” (2011), which closes the 13th edition of the Havana Film Festival New York, running Thursday through April 20.
“With this movie, I wanted to talk about the way Cubans respond to problems,” says director Alejandro Brugués, born in Argentina but raised in Cuba.
“Generally, here we have three ways to face trouble: Move on with life as if nothing happened, put up a business and try to make some money out of the matter, or jump into the sea and row to Miami,” jokes Brugués.
But even though the director uses a zombie invasion as a metaphor to speak about Cuba’s issues, he clarifies that his second feature is a comedy.
“There is a universal humor in the film that reaches everyone, regardless if they are from Argentina or Hong Kong.”
“Juan of the Dead,” billed as the first zombie movie filmed in Cuba, was shot on landmark locations around Havana.
“We closed the Malecón for the shoot, and I had it all for myself for three days!” says Brugués, referring to Havana’s famous oceanfront avenue. “I felt like a child in an amusement park.”
This year, the Havana Film Festival New York includes more than 40 films from Latin America, the Caribbean and the U.S. They will screen at the Quad Cinema, the Instituto Cervantes and three other venues in Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx.
The fest will open with Cuban filmmaker Ian Padrón’s debut, “Habanastation” (2011), a comedy about social inequality on the island, seen from the point of view of two children.
The documentaries selection includes “Las Carpetas” (“The Files”) by Maite Rivera Carbonell, about Puerto Ricans who were prosecuted for their political beliefs in the 1960s and ’70s.
As it did last year, the showcase will offer a selection of indigenous cinema, presenting stories from Guatemala, Mexico and Colombia.
“We want to highlight three topics in this theme: The recovery of memory, the current state of indigenous communities and the fact that they themselves narrate their own stories,” explains the festival’s artistic director, Diana Vargas.
The documentary “Nacimos el 31 de diciembre” (“Born on December 31st”) by Priscila Padilla Farfán, narrates the struggle of the Wayuu indigenous community in Colombia’s La Guajira to recover their real names, after they were arbitrarily changed to insulting monikers such as Borracho (Drunk).