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La despedida
Program
La despedida

La despedida

The Farewell
Alejandro Alonso Estrella
Cuba
2014
25 min
Spotlight on Cuba
Tickets & Times
Synopsis

In his graduation documentary for the Cuban film school EICTV, Alejandro Alonso Estrella portrays an elderly former miner still living on the premises of the mine where he spent his entire working life.

Images of great photographic quality contrast the lively household—he shares the modest home with his daughter and her young sons—with the waning energy of the old man. He spends his days smoking cigars, playing cards with his grandson, taking frequent naps and making occasional visits to the now closed and dilapidated mine. Aware of the fact that his time is almost up, he seeks to hold on to the past.

After its premiere at IDFA in 2014, La despedida went on to win the Best Short Documentary Award at Gibara Film Festival (Cuba) and received awards at a number of student film festivals in Europe and Latin America, marking the beginning of a promising path for Alonso Estrella. His mid-length documentary Terranova (co-directed with Alejandro Perez) won a Tiger Short Award at International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2021, and that same year his short documentary Abisal received a Golden Dove at DOK Leipzig.

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Tickets & Times
Sun, november 17
Part of Spotlight on Cuba: EICTV 2
14:15 – 16:13
Pathé City 3
Film fully subtitled in English

Tue, november 19
Part of Spotlight on Cuba: EICTV 2, Film screening followed by a panel talk.
17:15 – 19:37
Eye: Cinema 1
Film fully subtitled in English
Credits
25 min
color
DCP
Spoken languages: Spanish
Director
    Alejandro Alonso Estrella
    Alejandro Alonso Estrella
Production
    María Carla del Río for Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión - EICTV
    María Carla del Río for Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión - EICTV
Cinematography
    Miriam Ortiz
    Miriam Ortiz
Editing
    Emmanuel Peña
    Emmanuel Peña
Sound
    Leo Dolgan
    Leo Dolgan
Sound Design
    Leo Dolgan
    Leo Dolgan
Screenplay
    Alejandro Alonso Estrella
    Alejandro Alonso Estrella
Screening copy
    Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión - EICTV
    Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión - EICTV

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More from the program section Spotlight on Cuba
Spotlight on Cuba revisits the complex political history of Cuba. With a retrospective of the pioneering Afro-Cuban filmmaker Sara Gómez, next to a special curation of films made by students of the EICTV, the program will explore the paradoxes of our perception of Cuba as both revolutionary utopia and dystopia.
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Diana Montero
2013
15 min