Motherland or Death

An existential documentary that brings together histories and relationships from all walks of life in today’s Cuban society. Philosophical views on human nature from a housewife, a cobbler, revolutionaries, party officials, musicians... Cuban traditions are vividly depicted here. Exhumation of relatives’ remains, or the famous Latin American rite of passage in which a family of modest means is ready to spend its entire year’s budget to celebrate their daughter’s fifteenth birthday. The moves of the Rueda Casino dance that keeps Europeans coming to the island; the musical group of the Izquerda brothers, who may play to entertain dancers today and tomorrow may use their rhythms to put a voodoo ritual audience into a trance. An unhurried philosophical narrative against background shots of Havana’s daily routines.
Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.

Script: Vitaly Mansky
Cinematography: Leonid Konovalov, Vitaly Mansky
Editing: Maksim Karamishev
Sound: Maria Ushenina, Sergey Ovcharenko
Music: Sergio David Calzado y su Charanga Abaner, Yadam Gonsalez y Jorge Gomes, Carlos Luebla, Moncada
Production: Genfilm, Russia T.-F. +7 495 231 1221 pr@genfilm.ru www.genfilm.ru & Vertov Real Cinema, Russia
Producers: Gennady Kostrov
Format: HDCAM Color
Production Country: Russia
Production Year: 2011
Duration: 99
Contact: Genfilm, Russia Gennady Kostrov T.-F. +7 495 231 1221 pr@genfilm.ru www.genfilm.ru
Diploma of the Cinema Experts and Critics Guild - Kinotavr 2011, Moscow

Vitaly Mansky

Filmography

Selected
1999 Chastnye kroniki. Monolog/Private Chronicles: Monologue
2002 Brodvey. Chernoe more/Broadway. The Black Sea
2008 Devstvennost/Virginity
2008 Rassvet, Zakat. Dalai Lama 14/Dawn, Sunset. Dalai Lama 14
2009 Nikolina gora. Epilogue
2011 Patria o muerte/Motherland or Death