MALECÓN

During my first trip to Cuba, I became familiar with the prestigious International Film School of Cuba and I enrolled to study a film directing workshop. I immediately felt fascinated by the city and the country so I decided to stay 6 more months in Cuba. I had previously studied cinematography at the ECAM in Madrid and Havana presented one of the most beautiful and unique places on the planet to capture. I immediately felt a need to portray situations, places and atmospheres as I started to soak up the history of Cuba and its literature, particularly authors such as Pedro Juan Gutierrez, known as the Cuban Bukowski.

Media coverage of Cuba usually oscillates between the nostalgic embellishment of its images and the political-economic analysis of one of the last strongholds of post-communism. However, I have always been more interested in how Cuban people navigate through life on a daily basis, immersed in precariousness and guided by survival instincts and resourcefulness, but also empowered by a unique sense of community and family.

MALECON is a window into Havana’s heartbeat. It is a story that deals - much alike Cuban people do - with universal values such as friendship, loyalty and love… in a precarious context where survival instincts come often to the surface along with moral conflicts. Our main characters are constantly tested by the harsh realities of their country.

This is also a film about a return and an escape, something you see a lot in Cuba, where desperation leads people to leave their own country, their culture and their people to seek out new opportunities overseas. Our main character Elvis is precisely facing the hard dilemma of leaving everything he knows and loves to start a new life away from Cuba. This decision will not only have a pivotal effect on his life but also on his circle, on the people he recognizes as his family. Being an emigrant myself and having left my country about a decade ago in search for opportunities that I couldn´t find at home, I can personally empathize with this conflict, only heightened by Cuba’s conditions.
I felt that it was important to keep the film´s narrative focus on Elvis as he goes on a journey to find himself in a place of change. After 10 years in prison he discovers Cuba’s new reality and this fresh look is shared with the audience, that also embarks on Elvis' internal journey.

From an aesthetic perspective, I wanted to prioritize hand-held camera shots in close proximity to the actors, moving through space as they do, as well as a natural approach to lighting the scenes. It is also important to remark that the film avoids exaggerating the harshness of Cuba or fully submerging in its "dirty" realism, instead opting for a more personal and lyrical point of view, leaving room for positivity and humor in contrast to pure bleakness. This lyrical realism helps us empathize further with our characters by evoking relatable emotions, making the audience feel part of Elvis’ life and vested in his final decision.

In fact, it could be argued that the film’s point of view is ultimately from Elvis when he is about to make his stay/leave decision at the end of the film, looking back not only at the life he has lived but also at how he has perceived it through an emotional lens. That is why we wanted to capture Cuba’s captivating atmosphere using natural light and anamorphic lenses, obtaining a realistic yet cinematographic look that is also tied to Elvis’ perception of reality.

Carlos Larrazabal, Director