The Sons of the Brothers Ilmar and Aldo López Gavilán

December 9, 2020

The documentary Los hermanos, by renowned American filmmakers Marcia Jamel and Ken Schneider, will have a special presentation at this unique 42nd International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, on Sunday, December 13, at the La Rampa cinema.

The film brings viewers closer to the musical reunion of brothers Ilmar and Aldo López Gavilán, sons of the distinguished composer and conductor Guido López Gavilán and pianist and pedagogue Teresita Junco, now deceased.

Virtuoso instrumentalists, the brothers directed their personal lives along different paths: Ilmar, after studies in the then Soviet Union and performances throughout Europe and the United States, settled in New York; while Aldo, with studies in Havana and London, continued his life and professional career in his native city.

Presented last September at the Woodstock Film Festival, it was awarded the prize for Best Documentary. Marcia Jamel and Ken Schneider trace the parallel paths of Ilmar and Aldo in New York and Havana, offering an approach to their lives and those of their families, capturing the personal and professional relationships between them, and visualizing the moving and spectacular first presentation together on a U.S. stage (they have performed together before in Cuba, for example, at the 70th anniversary of Guido López Gavilán).

Acclaimed American violinist Joshua Bell has commented that the documentary is "a magnificent musical tour through Cuba and the United States."