Una isla para Miguel

After the Cuban Revolution, the new government sent young people to Isla de Pinos for re-education. In this the second part of Sara Gómez’s trilogy on Isla de Pinos (now Isla de la Juventud), she follows the adolescent Miguel, who comes from a large, destitute single-parent family in Havana. Miguel is on the island to become an upright young man and a valued comrade in the new Communist state of Cuba.

The ultra-disciplined group program helps Miguel avoid the gang life that draws in so many marginalized boys of color. Gómez films this forthright young man at the camp, and invites the camp leaders and Miquel’s comrades to have their say. In line with the ‘imperfect cinema’ tradition, the director tracks the progress of the revolution and in a dignified manner, presents people who would otherwise be neither seen nor heard. In the background we hear the Afro Cuban jazz sounds of the legendary pianist and composer Chucho Valdés.

Una isla para Miguel is being screened in a restored 4K version (restoration by Vulnerable Media Lab) of the last surviving 16mm print, from the archives of the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC).