Return to Itaca

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The 2019 archive

By Laurent Cantet (2014)

Throughout one night, five friends gather on a rooftop terrace in Havana around Amadeo, freshly returned from exile.
Return to Itaca © DR

Presentation

A rooftop terrace overlooking Havana. Five friends are gathered to celebrate Amadeo's return after 16 years in exile. From dusk till dawn, they talk about their youth, the gang they once formed, the faith in the future that drove them... but also about their disillusionment today. They're all well into their fifties. They once lived in accordance with the ideal of the revolution, but the collapse of the USSR and the end of its financial aid shattered their dreams and drove them to the edge of poverty. Each of them tried to survive as best they could, trying and sometimes failing to save their integrity, their marriage, their family life, their mental health... Working in close collaboration with Cuban writer Leonardo Padura Fuentes, Laurent Cantet shows us the pains, rancours, and sorrows of a generation swindled by History.

Production

With Utopia cinema
In partnership
with Transfuge, France Médias Monde

Practical infos

Pictures