Cuban Filmmaker Marcel Beltrán to Participate in the Cannes Film Festival

May 14, 2024

Cuban filmmaker Marcel Beltrán will attend the Cannes Film Festival thanks to his fiction feature film project "Moa".

This was indicated by the Assembly of Cuban Filmmakers (ACC), adding that Beltrán will be present at the 77th edition of the film event as part of the 'La Fabrique Cinéma' section.

"Moa" is the first fiction feature film by Cuban filmmaker based in Brazil and is set in Moa, a Cuban municipality shrouded in mist where a passionate biologist arrives to reconcile herself with her past.

As Beltrán himself explained, "over the years, Moa became a presence as close as it was distant in my memory, and this kind of emotional mist became the backdrop for my first fiction feature film".

As he said, "the film explores the Indo-Cuban legacy and its magical and spiritual influence amid the conflicts of the contemporary world, manifesting itself in the solastalgia that overwhelms the protagonist".

The film is a production of Mediocielo Films, a Cuban-Brazilian company founded by Beltrán together with Brazilian producer Paula Gastaud.

Currently the project is in an advanced development stage and has participated in Locarno Open Doors Hub 2022 and Ventana/Sur Proyecta 2023, where it was awarded the Sørfond prize.

Gastaud explained to the specialized portal LatAm cinema that with their participation in Cannes they will seek co-production with Canada and Europe, with a special interest in establishing alliances with Spain, the Netherlands, and Norway.

The objective of traveling to France, according to the Brazilian producer, is to seek sales agencies, distributors, and television channels "that allow us to achieve financing without obstacles, crucial to secure the resources we still need to carry out filming in Cuba".

In addition to Beltrán, the films "The Last King", by Peruvian Víctor Checa, and "Resistance", by Dominican Yanillys Pérez, share this section.

Marcel Beltrán's work includes the documentary features "The Music of the Spheres" (2018) and "Zero Option" (2020). The latter had its world premiere at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam IDFA and its North American premiere at Hot Docs and DOC NYC.