HGFF18 Laura de la Uz Double Bill: Screening: Hello Hemingway

Fernando Perez/Cuba/1990/Fiction/90mins

“Why did they make birds so delicate and fine as those sea swallows when the ocean can be so cruel?", a bookseller quotes from Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, but his young friend Laurita (Laura de la Uz) dismisses the darker passages of the story. In 1950s Cuba, she applies for a scholarship to an American university, thereby attempting the first steps away from her impoverished family. Pérez beautifully interweaves complex moods as his film ranges over personal and social upheaval. Laurita's decision to try to go to America unleashes increasingly hostile reactions from relatives and her politicised boyfriend, but this is balanced against tender exchanges with her grandmother. Initially, the film parallels Laurita's determination with that of Hemingway's Old Man; but more effectively, it dwells on the function of fantasy as both a catalysing and comforting force.

Q & A with Laura de la Uz:
One of Cuba’s most successful actors, Laura de la Uz has enjoyed success in theatre, film and television. Graduating from the Havana National Theatre School in 1992 (specializing in acting, directing and pedagogy), she starred in 'Hello Hemingway’ while still a student in 1990 and won the Coral Prize for best female performance at the XII International Festival of New Latin American Cinema. This film, 'La película de Ana' (2012) and 'Vestido de Novia' (2014) have defined her acting career.

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Spanish with English subtitles