Slideshow
OCEANS ARE THE REAL CONTINENTS
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY TOMMASO SANTAMBROGIO
A poignant triptych set in contemporary Cuba, shot in stunning black and white: Debut filmmaker Santambrogio renders the ache of leaving and being left with both gritty realism and sensual elegance. Two young artists in love confront the collision of his passion for her with her burning desire to leave Cuba behind; a sensitive, baseball-obsessed boy detects the impending trauma of his family uprooting for Miami; and an elderly woman, solitary in her ramshackle home, enshrines letters she received from her husband, taken from her three decades earlier fighting a faraway war.
Presented with support from The Robert E. Appel Fund for Spanish and Portuguese Language Films
With additional support from Rose Ostrovsky / Ostrovsky Family Fund
2023 119 MIN. ITALY / CUBA IN SPANISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES FILM MOVEMENT
Trailer
Reviews
“MESMERIZING… [an] exquisitely realized neorealist first feature by Italian director Tommaso Santambrogio…filmed with marvelous attention to subtle contrasts possible in its monochromatic palette, the frames brim with a built-in timelessness.”
– Carlos Aguilar, RogerEbert.com
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“A LUSH AND LYRICAL vision of contemporary Cuba…There is a ravishing kind of beauty in [this] triptych of contemporary Cuban life. With black and white cinematography that privileges an exacting formalism throughout, this portrait of the island works hard to defamiliarize the very sun-dappled, colorful image of Cuba that so dominates the cultural imaginary. An intergenerational study on exile and belonging.”
– Peter Debruge, Variety
“[A] beautifully realized first feature… a stark portrait of Cubans deeply impacted by exile. Exquisite.”
– Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter
“Mesmerizing, stunning...an ode to a wounded, wondrous country that still bleeds and loses its young to emigration.”
– Patricia Boero, The Film Verdict
“[A] wistful and poetic journey sure to linger on in memory.”
– Travis DeShong, In Review Online
