El árbol

The Tree

Roya Eshraghi Safaifard

Cuba

2015

14 min

Spotlight on Cuba

Tickets & Times

Synopsis

A tree is growing on the fifth floor of a dilapidated building in Cuba, its roots seeking the earth meters below.

In filming the tree, Iranian filmmaker Roya Eshraghi reflects on questions about rootedness. The tree becomes a metaphor for a search: for the bond with her father, for a home, and for the meaning of the film itself. Because why does Eshraghi feel so connected to this tree?

Blurred images of city dwellers punctuate shots of the filmmaker amid the rubble. Meanwhile, she calls her father, whose experiences show similarities with the fate of the tree.

Tickets & Times

Accessibility

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, held in Spanish with English interpretation.

17:15 – 19:39

Eye: Cinema 1

Film fully subtitled in English

Credits

14 min

color

DCP

Spoken languages: Spanish

Director

Roya Eshraghi Safaifard

Production

Diana Reyes for Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión - EICTV

Executive producer

Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión - EICTV

Cinematography

Freidell Urbina

Editing

Ahmed Abdallahi

Sound

Victor Quintanilha

Sound Design

Victor Quintanilha

Screenplay

Roya Eshraghi Safaifard

Screening copy

Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión - EICTV

Stills

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.

View program section