Havana, film setting
Havana’s particular brand of decadence is the best backdrop for any film shoot. Her streets hide stories that have been worthy of many a movie and doumentary.
Of all the films shot in Havana, the most internationally famous is probably, Fresa y Chocolate, by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío (1994). The award-winning drama condemns the intolerance towards homosexuality in 1970’s Cuba. “Welcome to La Guarida” says Diego (Jorge Perugorría) to David (Vladimir Cruz) when they meet and begin their relationship. The film is based on the short story by Senel Paz El lobo, el bosque and el hombre nuevo (The Wolf, the Forest and the New Man) and received several national and international awards. Besides the issue of homosexuality, Fresa y Chocolate explores everyday life in Havana and places like the Paladar La Guarida, one of the most famous restaurants in the city and an essential stop for trying the local cuisine. Twenty years on, the city is more tolerant and permissive.
Daily life in the capital is also intimately portrayed in settings like the Malecón and central neighbourhoods in the documentary Suite Habana (2003, Fernando Pérez). The same would happen with Pérez’ other works, including Clandestinos, Hello, Hemingway, Madagascar, La vida es silbar, and Últimos días en La Habana. Suite Habana relates the life of social groups that emerged in the first decade of the 21st century in the Cuban capital. It has received awards on two occasions and caused quite an impact on Cuban audiences. The characters are real and their life stories unfold on the screen.
But not all films with Havana in the title were filmed in the seafront city. Such is the case of El Rey de la Habana, which was shot in the Dominican Republic. Directed by Agustí Villaronga, it is based on the novel of the same name by Cuban writer, Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, and describes the Cuba of the 90s. Cosas que dejé en La Habana, directed by Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón and filmed in Spain, is another example. However, the same director filmed Una Rosa de Francia (2006) in Havana. The film stars Jorge Perugorría as an unscrupulous smuggler who, in pre-revolutionary times (50s) abandons a group of would-be immigrants trying to reach the United States, on a small island. The film was shot in different locations including the Castillo de El Morro and Cayo Romero.
Along the lines of Ciudad de Dios and Slumdog Millonaire, Habanastation (2011), by Ian Padrón, tells the exciting story of two children from different social strata but with much in common. The boys have to spend a day together (a 1st of May), which changes their outlook on life. It all takes place in a marginal environment such as that permeating La Tinta, a neighbourhood close to the Plaza de la Revolución.
In 1959, Carol Reed took Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana to the big screen, with Sir Alec Guinness in the leading role. The comedy describes the last years of Batista’s dictatorship. Some sequences were shot in the legendary Sloppy Joe’s, a favourite of the novelist and many Hollywood actors. Although it remained closed for several decades, it has now reopened its doors and preserves the original décor that appears in the film.
Daily life in the capital is also intimately portrayed in settings like the Malecón and central neighbourhoods in the documentary Suite Habana (2003, Fernando Pérez). The same would happen with Pérez’ other works, including Clandestinos, Hello, Hemingway, Madagascar, La vida es silbar, and Últimos días en La Habana. Suite Habana relates the life of social groups that emerged in the first decade of the 21st century in the Cuban capital. It has received awards on two occasions and caused quite an impact on Cuban audiences. The characters are real and their life stories unfold on the screen.
But not all films with Havana in the title were filmed in the seafront city. Such is the case of El Rey de la Habana, which was shot in the Dominican Republic. Directed by Agustí Villaronga, it is based on the novel of the same name by Cuban writer, Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, and describes the Cuba of the 90s. Cosas que dejé en La Habana, directed by Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón and filmed in Spain, is another example. However, the same director filmed Una Rosa de Francia (2006) in Havana. The film stars Jorge Perugorría as an unscrupulous smuggler who, in pre-revolutionary times (50s) abandons a group of would-be immigrants trying to reach the United States, on a small island. The film was shot in different locations including the Castillo de El Morro and Cayo Romero.
Along the lines of Ciudad de Dios and Slumdog Millonaire, Habanastation (2011), by Ian Padrón, tells the exciting story of two children from different social strata but with much in common. The boys have to spend a day together (a 1st of May), which changes their outlook on life. It all takes place in a marginal environment such as that permeating La Tinta, a neighbourhood close to the Plaza de la Revolución.
In 1959, Carol Reed took Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana to the big screen, with Sir Alec Guinness in the leading role. The comedy describes the last years of Batista’s dictatorship. Some sequences were shot in the legendary Sloppy Joe’s, a favourite of the novelist and many Hollywood actors. Although it remained closed for several decades, it has now reopened its doors and preserves the original décor that appears in the film.