Experiencing Interruptions?

The last step

In an empty train station in Portugal, Elisa, a Cuban woman, faces the last farewell of her life in Cuba. Without people trains, just the sound of your steps, she decides to take a step towards the unknown, leaving his past behind to walk towards an uncertain future.

  • Odanys Reina
    Director
  • Odanys Reina
    Writer
  • Igor Andrade
    Producer
  • Odanys Reina
    Key Cast
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    O Último passo
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Runtime:
    4 minutes 15 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 22, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    200 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Brazil, Cuba
  • Country of Filming:
    Portugal
  • Language:
    Portuguese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Odanys Reina

My full name is Odanys Garcia Reina. I was born on September 28, 1999, in Havana, Cuba. I am a very creative, sociable, and outgoing person. My first steps were in theater, where at a very young age, I was part of a children's dance-theater group with teacher Lurdes Cajigal. I performed in works such as “Brinquemos na floresta,” “Meñique,” and “A Cinderella,” which were staged at the National Theater of Cuba. From 2007-2008, I was part of a children's theater group, where I performed in the play Aladino, presented at the Arab Embassy in Cuba.

From 2010-2011, I was part of the group Moda-Baila, and from 2014-2016, I was part of the youth theater group “Olga Alonso,” where I played lead roles in works such as “Yerma,” “Santa Camila de la Habana Vieja,” “Andoba,” “Contigo Pan y Cebolla,” “Romeo y Julieta,” “Un tranvía llamado Deseo.” In 2017-2018, I became part of the professional theater group Hubert de Blanck and participated in the play O Galo Elétrico.

Television entered my life in my teenage years, and both in Cuba and abroad, I had the opportunity to work on various projects. My first appearance was in 2017 on the program Humor a la verdad by the ICRT producer of Cuba. In that same year, I participated in several programs like La Dosis Exacta and El Policiaco Tras la Huella.

My first experience in directing came in 2018 when I left my country and moved to Angola. There, I created my own theater group called O.K.A, composed of three actors, and with them, I directed and produced my own play titled Trompassos da vida amorosa. It was at that moment that I discovered my potential as a director. In Angola, I also had the opportunity to participate in the 100limite program by the TPA network. In 2020, I took part in a short film titled Tango do Hospício, produced by theater students from the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISIA).

In 2021, I moved to Portugal to pursue a Bachelor's degree in Dramatic Arts/Actor Training. I left the course after two years to move to Spain at the beginning of 2024, to take a course in Acting for the Camera at the artistic school Complot Escénico in Barcelona. I was also given the opportunity to participate in various works such as the short film Candela Hipnotizada, a student production from EMAV, and a play called Puta Renfe from the same production. I currently live in Porto, Portugal, and I want to continue developing and learning in the artistic areas that I love.

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Director Statement

The script uses few resources, but the simplicity of Elisa’s actions – looking, breathing, walking – becomes a metaphor for her internal struggle and the process of leaving the past behind. The empty station, the clock, and the absence of trains reinforce the feeling that Elisa is choosing her own path, beyond any external circumstances. Emigrating is leaving behind not just a home, but an entire life, not knowing if there will ever be a return. It’s carrying a piece of your homeland in your chest, now becoming a distant and painful memory, a home that dissolves between the borders of time and space. Every step taken on foreign soil is a tremendous weight, an emptiness hard to fill.

The decision to leave is not a choice, but an imposition of life, pain, violence, hunger, or fear. The luggage isn’t made of clothes, but of untold stories, broken dreams, separated family members, and an uncertain future. The heart is torn between what has been lost and what must be rebuilt, between the past that fades and the future that becomes increasingly unclear.

Being forced to emigrate is carrying the anguish of uncertainty every day, knowing that you may never again see the street where you grew up, the smile of your grandmother, or the scent of the sea that welcomed your first steps. It is being forced to start over, but with the soul still tied to the place of origin, to what was lost. It is learning to live with a longing that, at times, becomes unbearable.

But it is also resistance. It is courage in the face of pain and adversity, it is moving forward, even without knowing what tomorrow will bring. Being forced to emigrate is keeping hope alive, not losing the thread that connects you to your roots, even when the ground seems to shift beneath your feet. Because, deep down, those who are torn from their land carry with them the strength to resist, the faith that, one day, there will be peace, and the certainty that, despite everything, the human spirit is capable of starting anew, even when everything seems to be falling apart.