Migration between Cuba and Spain is the subject of the documentary made by Blanca Rosa Blanco

February 12, 2023

Blanca Rosa Blanco (1972) has not allowed herself to travel only the path of acting, even though her performances in film and television are enough for her to feel fulfilled. For years now, without abandoning her acting work, she has committed to telling stories behind the camera.

In 2018 she took the first step with the fictional feature film El Regreso, seen in cinemas throughout Cuba and at international festivals. She continued with her projects from marketing to the screen. Now, with Retorno (2023), she tackles a subject that she has experienced firsthand just like millions of people around the world: displacement.

Retorno was presented on Friday, February 10 at the Sala Chaplin of the Cinemateca de Cuba.

"We creators have a debt to those who have suffered emigration; to those who have left behind their culture, their family; both in America and in Europe. It is striking how Cubans in La Palma (Gran Canaria) have kept our customs alive. That makes you feel at home".

Although "Los Indianos" is also celebrated in Gran Canaria, it is the festival par excellence of La Palma, the most popular and well-attended.

It emerged spontaneously in the 1980s and celebrates the return of palmeros to their land, after having emigrated in hard times to Latin America, and particularly to Cuba. The celebration features Cuban and Canarian son, guarachas, guajiras and Latin American gastronomy.

"The festival became a pretext to talk about migration, specifically from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The fact of filming outside Cuba, under other conditions, with a different work strategy, little budget and time, forced us to get our act together and not waste a second," comments the actress and filmmaker.

"Migration is a painful process, and the documentary is a tribute to all those who go to other lands to fulfill a dream," she adds.

Filmed in La Palma and Tenerife, the 52-minute documentary was produced by Carlos de La Huerta and photographed by Alexander González.

"The research was carried out basically in Cuba. In the archives of the Biblioteca Nacional José Martí we found very valuable documents," said Blanca Rosa. "Many friends also provided me with documents and archival images. Even though we contribute novel elements in the documentary, there are still things left to tell".

For the actress, directing has been a path she found "out of spiritual necessity".

"After an experience with students from the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) I felt the urgency to direct, to tell stories, without betraying the path of acting, of course. There's no reason to separate things."

Blanco is already in the research process for a new project, about the presence of Dulce María Loynaz in the Canary Islands. "Together with screenwriter Amílcar Salatti we are working on this story, which is truly interesting," she announced.