Film Archive

Música Cubana

Just a normal day in Havana. Bárbaro, one of the city’s typical taxi drivers, picks up the Maestro Pío Leiva (85), a star of the Buena Vista Social Club, who is late for a radio show. Bárbaro and Pío become friends and decide to put together a band with some of the best and most acclaimed young musicians living in Cuba today. All under the direction of the Maestro, of course.

The film tells the story of the formation of the band. It accompanies the musicians through their rehearsals and recordings of a number of Cuban classics, as well as through their search for new songs and their own style as a band. And it all ends in a huge concert in Tokyo, where their band “The Sons of Cuba” is finally born.

Música Cubana is a film about the young generation of Cuban musicians today. But it is also a journey into this very special and passionate country. A journey into its music and into the hearts of its people, equally full of passion, love and hope.

German Kral was born in Buenos Aires in 1968 and studied at the University of Television & Film in Munich. His 1992 short On the Edge won the First Prize at the Bienal de Arte in Buenos Aires and the Sheraton Award at the Antalya Short Film Festival, while his Tango Berlin, co-directed with Florian Gallenberger, was the German entry to Venice's Biennale in 1997. His other films include: The Other One (short, 1991), Historia Tales of the Deserts (short, 1996), A Trick of the Light (co-director/co-author, 1996), Images of the Absence (1999), Bernd Eichinger, When Life Becomes a Film (co-director/co-author, 2000), That's Life (2002), Música Cubana (2004), and The Last Applause (2008).
 

Genre Music
Category Semi Fictional Documentary
Year of Production 2004
Director German Kral
Screenplay Stephan Puchner, German Kral
Director of Photography Joerg Widmer
Editors Peter Przygodda, Wolfgang Weigl, André Bendocchi-Alves
Producers Luke Schiller, Wim Wenders, Franz Landerer, Guido De Angelis, Karsten Bruenig, John G. Phelan, Claus Clausen, Detlef Engelhard
Production Companies VICTORY Media Group/Kaufbeuren, De Angelis Group/Rome, in co-production with VICTORY 21. Film Production/Kaufbeuren, Termidor Musikverlag/Remseck, in association with International Production Services/Berlin, ICAIC/Havana
Principal Cast Pío Leiva, Bárbaro Marín, El Nene, Mayito Rivera, Osdalgia Lesmes, Telmary Díaz, Luis Frank, Tirso Duarte, Chiki Chaka Girls
Length 88 min, 2,650 m
Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85
Original Version Spanish
Subtitled Versions English, German, Italian
Sound Technology Dolby SRD
Festival Screenings Venice 2004, AFI 2004, Cork 2004, Sevilla 2004, Mar del Plata 2005
With backing from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern
German Distributor Solo Film Verleih/Munich

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