The Poles with Coralia Veloz and Tahimí Alvariño

May 19, 2023

The Cuban short film «Las Polacas», starring actresses Coralita Veloz and Tahimi Alvariño and directed by Carlos Barba, has won the Family Social Impact Award at the Latino & Native American Film Festival in its 2023 edition.

Barba announced this in a post on Instagram. "Thanks to the jury and congratulations to the wonderful staff that accompanied me on this journey, which continues…", he stated.

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The nearly 25-minute film shows a moving story about family intimacy. «A mother and daughter embark on a journey in an old Polski Fiat, popularly called a 'polaquito' in Cuba. The bond between them does not prevent the turbulence of a family and a country from surfacing. Immersed in conversation, the kilometers separating them from an inevitable destination grow shorter», describes the plot.

"Las Polacas" has had a good run through international festivals. Barba has commented that the film's theme came after he made another short film titled 25 Horas and starring Isabel Santos and Enrique Pineda Barnet, as well as appearances by Alicia Bustamante and Carlos Alberto Méndez.

"The idea came to me of what I now call a filial trilogy, which continued with Las Polacas and which should be followed by the project No te puedes morir. The ideas come from mystery, from a spark; so far when I write a script I don't face something premeditated, the characters survive that idea, they rebel and make me convinced by the fifth day that I want to tell a story as an author", he told Diario Las Amércias. .

The short has been presented at the Hispanophone Film Festival of Athens, the Seattle Latino Film Festival (where Coralita Veloz won a Special Recognition for her performance), the Havana Film Festival of New York, Yale University's LIFFY, and the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana.