Two Film Screenings at the University of Miami.

March 17th through March 19th, 2006Ferraz’s documentary is a fascinating trip through the making of “one of the most deliriously beautiful films ever made” (L.A. Weekly): Mikhail Kalotosov’s 1964 masterpiece, I am Cuba. Requiring an unprecedented 14 months of shooting, this first and only Cuban-Soviet co-production ever made was intended as a celebration of Castro’s revolution. Why then was the film rejected by Cubans and Soviets alike upon its release and shelved for more than 30 years until it was rediscovered and championed in the 1990’s by North Americans, including Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola? Through a combination of breathtaking shots from the original film and interviews with surviving cast and crew members, Ferraz investigates the motives behind the banning of the film. The resulting documentary, I am Cuba, The Siberian Mammoth, provides us with insights into the ideology of the Cold War, the recent history of Cuba, and the great irony of I am Cuba which only the passage of time has been able to reveal. Cinema Tropical is proud to release this documentary at the time when Milestone Films is releasing brand-new prints of I am Cuba to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its discovery. On the other hand, the film Electric Shadows opens in present-day Beijing with a disastrous encounter between delivery boy Dabing (Xia Yu, who won the Best Actor prize in Venice for “In the Heat of the Sun”) and Ling Ling (Qi Zhongyang). Dabing is the one with a bump on his head, but Ling Ling’s the one who ends up in hospital, receiving overdue treatment for a life that has left her dazed, confused, and hurt. He visits her home to keep her fish fed and starts reading her journal. It tells a story that shocks him in ways he could never have expected, but it also reminds him of his own childhood passion for the movies. Those were the days before television, when movies were the only real mass medium and when audiences breathed and dreamed as one. For more information, please contact: gremer@miami.edu