Directed by Mary Jane Doherty • Documentary • With Mayara Piñeiro, Gabriela Moreno, Moises Noriega • 2013 • 96 minutes
Secundaria quietly follows one high school class on its journey through Cuba's world-famous National Ballet School. The teens love to dance, but for many of them dance is also their sole escape from a life of poverty. The documentary begins as an observational portrait, but in their third year of school the main character, Mayara, takes charge of her destiny in an astonishing way. Suddenly this simple portrait takes a dramatic turn as Mayara's action surprises everyone: teachers, friends, family and, ultimately, the filmmaker herself.
Up Next in Cuba
-
The Singular Story of Unlucky Juan
Directed by Ricardo Figueredo Oliva • Documentary • 2016 • 52 minutes
Seven pounds of rice, five pounds sugar, four ounces coffee, half a pound cooking oil, five eggs, 10 ounces beans, a small bread roll and a pound a half of meat – that’s the monthly allotment for Cubans under the country’s rat...
-
They Are We
Directed by Emma Christopher, Ph.D. • Documentary • 2014 • 79 minutes
THEY ARE WE is the story of a remarkable reunion, 170 or so years after a family was driven apart by the ravages of the transatlantic slave trade. In Central Cuba, proud members of the Ganga-Longoba, a small Afro-Cuban ethnic ...
-
Tierralismo
Directed by Alejandro Ramirez Anderson • Documentary • 2013 • 49 minutes
On the outskirts of Havana, sandwiched between highways and public housing, a revolution is taking place. Here, in the district of Alamar, a 26-acre farming co-op provides employment for dozens of workers, while producing v...
