Havana/Piera film by Spanish director Carlos Larrazabal focused on a young ex-convict torn between embracing his harsh reality or leaving in search of a new life outside of Cuba, will be Cuba’s candidate to reach the 99th edition of the Oscars, the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (Icaic) announced this Tuesday.
The co-production between the Island, Spain and the United States is the first film endorsed by the Icaic in a decade to aspire to the nomination for best international film at these awards, the director of the entity, Alexis Triana, told EFE.
Until now, Cuban cinema has only managed to compete at the American Film Academy awards with the acclaimed Strawberry and Chocolate (1993).
Triana insisted that a group of experts chose a film that “is certified as Cuban by its Cuban producers, its Cuban actors, its Cuban scriptwriters, even when the director is actually Spanish or the production companies are in other countries.”
“This committee has considered that Cuba has to return to the idea of supporting foreign co-productions, of seeking foreign capital, of seeking tax incentives to produce cinema,” he stated.
Pier It borrows the name of the famous promenade that has become a symbol of Havana and was written by the Cuban Fabián Suárez and Larrazabal himself, a former student at the International Film School of San Antonio de Los Baños, in Cuba.
In a post on Instagram, the filmmaker declared himself “proud” that the feature film represents the Island as a pre-nominated film for the 99th Academy Awards.
The film has as its protagonist Elvis, who returns to a precarious reality in a city very different from the one he left after serving ten years in prison for murdering his abusive stepfather.
The central dilemma reflects that of many on the island hit by the crisis: rebuilding their life with the love of their childhood or abandoning everything in search of a new opportunity in the United States.
It stars César Domínguez, Camila Rodhe, Omar Rolando and Yordanka Ariosa, with the special participation of the renowned Luis Alberto García.
For Inti Herrera, from the Cuban film production company i4films, this nomination is “a great boost, especially for films made on this side of the continent, where really at the distribution level it is always difficult to be able to place a film in festivals.”
“The film had had two attempts to be made before,” Herrera, who worked with the co-founder of the independent company, Reymel Delgado, and Larrazabal, explained to EFE, to plan the production in a “very pragmatic way and look for creative solutions” in a country where the economic and energy crisis makes every step difficult.
The finalist films in the best international film category at the Oscars will be announced in December, after which the five official nominees will be revealed on January 21. The 99th edition of the awards will be held on March 14, 2027 in Los Angeles.
