3 Rivers to Cuba documentary project update
Research and consultation continues as post-production gets into full swing on September 1, 2016.
To build more excitement and show you all a bit more from the upcoming documentary, Spinning Goat’s director, Chris, will be working diligently to complete a full documentary trailer by Labor Day!
Stay tuned for the trailer online, and news about screening dates in Pittsburgh starting on September 22, 2016!
A short experimental video I produced called “reverse / volverse” will screen as part of the Steel City Shorts film showcase in Pittsburgh on August 26, 2016.
In this video, I take an archive film called “March of Progress” and re-edit it to a soundtrack recorded by DJ Kusillo from Bolivia (song found on archive.org). It is an exercise in editing the imagery to the music, and making a statement about ‘progress’ and if it’s always beneficial.
The film program will screen at Joe Negri Auditorium, 200 Cowan Street in Mt. Washington. Doors at 7 pm, screening at 8 pm. $5 suggested donation to cover venue rental costs.
Facebook invite: https://www.facebook.com/events/158386581261346/
3 Rivers to Cuba documentary
Follow the documentary site for the latest updates: http://3RiverstoCuba.wordpress.com
https://3riverstocuba.wordpress.com/participants/boris-balsindes-urquiola/
Boris Balsindes Urquiola is a young highly creative, multifaceted Afro-Cuban artist, experienced in theater, music, photography and film production. He arrived to the United States in October of last year with the dream of sharing his culture and furthering his education in Theater and Africana Studies here. His life experience growing up in Cuba are an integral part of who he is as an artist and producer which blends his multicultural, multilingual, multicolor sounds and visuals into experiences of a Cuba we think we know, into a Cuba he knows very well. His work details the life of a Cuban in a particular neighborhood of Habana, where characters live, work, struggle and celebrate life and the dream for a better future. Food, music, art, and stories are told thru the lens of everyday nuances, with an installation that brings life his home as he wishes to share with his new friends in America. Utilizing mixed media arts, you will feel you are in Habana, just another day….. hoping, dreaming, feeling, that better days will come.
For the “3 Rivers to Cuba” documentary, Boris graciously offered his time to be interviewed about his creative work in Cuba, and in the US, where he has been living since Fall 2015. Lucky for us, Boris was accepted as an artist in residence at Most Wanted Fine Art in Pittsburgh, through the Cafe con Leche Latino artist residency program, and shares his photographs and visual art depicting life in Cuba, as well as collaborating on public art projects while in Pittsburgh.
Boris with Kenya C. Dworkin at his art opening in Pittsburgh on August 5, 2016
3 Rivers to Cuba documentary
Various subject matters will be presented in the 3 Rivers to Cuba documentary: from the participants words; from the live music and dance presentations; from audio and film clips retrieved from the past; from artistic creations in the present. Religion and music and dance are held together with strong ties forged in Cuba’s history. The mixture of Yoruba and European traditions, religion, music, dance and art are syncretized into something new and old at the same time.
Fusion. Experimentation. Innovation. Cuban.
It seems there is no long lingering on the questions of What to keep? What to lose? What is old? What is new? Value lies everywhere, in everything.
Watch this clip from “Mi salsa” tv program, featuring: Roman Diaz with Yoruba Andabo and Merceditas Valdes
The documentary project “3 Rivers to Cuba” is wrapping up final production this week, and post-production is in progress.
In the meantime, please enjoy this teaser trailer for the documentary, which features scenes shot in Cuba. Full documentary trailer coming very soon!
For more information about this project and other videos, check the dedicated site: http://3RiverstoCuba.wordpress.com
3 Rivers to Cuba teaser trailer
Filmed by: Chris Mason ©2016 and Brenda Sólkez ©2016
Check out the website for the upcoming documentary project “3 Rivers to Cuba” which heads into post-production this month.
Find out more about the documentary project’s participants through their profile pages under the “Participants” tab on http://3riverstocuba.wordpress.com. Information, photos and videos included, too!
Chris Mason, founder and director of Spinning Goat Productions, is featured on an episode of Indie Film Forum, hosted by documentary filmmaker Kalpana Biswas (“Jewels of Kandahar”). The segment will be broadcast on PCTV 21 starting on August 16th (check pctv21.org), and is available on youtube now (make sure to choose 720 HD viewing setting).
Chris speaks about her experimental filmmaking, the Machete Kisumontao documentary, and social justice & indie media.
Shout-outs to Tom Moran, Suavity’s Mouthpiece, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, MACHETE – Kisumontao, and New Voices Pittsburgh: Women of Color for Reproductive Justice and other groups in the piece!
A new site has been launched for media and updates about the upcoming documentary film “3 Rivers to Cuba,” that will highlight the ties between Pittsburgh, PA and Cuba, through interviews with community superstars in both Pittsburgh and Cuba who share and celebrate Cuban music, dance, culture and religion. A specific focus is on the contributions of Africans to Cuban culture and community, and tracing the African heritage in Latin music and dance. Additionally, work that has been done locally in Pittsburgh to support work of activists in the Afrodescendiente (people of African descent) movement in Cuba will be explored. Music, dance, and interviews in both Pittsburgh and Cuba will be featured.
Read more now, and watch for videos, more photos and more information about the documentary and its participants in the coming month.
https://3riverstocuba.wordpress.com/
Spinning Goat Productions 