Please join us for an encore performance of Cinema Club's presentation of these films. The screening will be followed by a live performance by a string quartet of young Cuban musicians, and a Q&A with the musicians and Dr. Rena Kraut, Executive Director of the Cuban American Youth Orchestra (CAYO).
Música! will be preceded by the short film Avanga by Sergio Rapu
About Música!
Over the course of five years, Música! follows four young Cubans who view music as a way of life. Through music, they hope to find success and fulfillment, some choosing to remain in Cuba, and some seeking to venture out into the world beyond.
Mùsica! is an exploration of the power of music and the value of cross-cultural exchange — and the impact they can have on individuals' lives. Within the story of the film, music builds bridges and creates new opportunities for these young people and gives them skills and tools they will need to face the challenging future ahead of them. Horns to Havana, a US-based group of musicians and instrument artisans, aims to help Cuban students and schools overcome constraints enforced by lack of resources, dire economic conditions, politics, and geography. Mùsica! shows this struggle in action. Academy Award-winning directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman have crafted a crowd-pleasing musical documentary filled with hope.
About Avanga by Sergio Rapu
From the filmmakers behind Eating Up Easter, comes a new experimental short documentary investigating an ancient burial practice on Rapa Nui. Traditionally, the death of someone in the community marked a time of mourning and taboos, as the body was dried and burned behind the ceremonial ahu of the megalithic moai. But when European explorers made contact with the isolated Rapanui, disease ravaged the population and a new, rapid mass burial practice was formed - Avanga. Two hundred years later disease once again threatens the Rapanui. As the COVID-19 pandemic engulfs the world, community leaders shut off access to the island to avoid repeating the past. But the closure has a drastic impact on their tourism-dependent economy. What will come of this renewed isolation?