HE WANTED A PROMOTION. HE GOT A REVOLUTION.
The first American feature made in Cuba since the revolution of 1959.
Written & Directed by Art Jones • Producers: Art Jones, Raphael Duvernay, Corentin Vinçon, Joe Foley • From GREAT JONES PRODUCTIONS
FILM TRAILER
"I want to focus on filmmaking as an adventure; specifically to tip my hat to Art Jones, a filmmaker who went off the grid to film a gripping 'dramady' called FORBIDDEN CUBA. Eager to tell the truth about this fast-changing island, Jones and his small French-American team flew to Cuba without permits or studio advances and managed to shoot for a month without getting deported and arrested. There's a great story to be told."
- Peter Bart, "Bart & Fleming" - Deadline Hollywood / Variety
"Seek out Forbidden Cuba, a promising, timely feature exploring the potential for U.S. exploitation of Cuba now that the borders have opened. It's an unexpectedly gentle film, like Local Hero and a version of Martin Sheen's search for Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now. Given the guerrilla filmmaking behind it, we would forgive Forbidden Cuba for looking shoddy, but it doesn't. The movie is a beautifully lit and staged road odyssey, and Cuba is as intoxicating to the audience as they are to Gil, the main character. It endorses Cuba as a place to offer a second chance at grace."
- Sam Weisberg, Village Voice / NYC
A cautionary tale of capitalism, the future of Cuba, and the American soul.
Synopsis
FORBIDDEN CUBA is a dramatic comedy. It follows Gil Bigelow, an American businessman sent on a mission to Cuba to find an executive gone rogue and plant the seeds for business expansion. On arrival, Gil quickly gets swallowed in the unknowns of Havana. Traveling deeper into the island, he's stripped of his routines, gadgets and bearings, and finds his eyes opened to the beauty and vibrant culture of Cuba - challenging his corporate directives, his identity and everything he's known.
Without permits, permission or a Plan B, we filmed FORBIDDEN CUBA guerrilla-style on location to reveal a nation on the verge of dramatic change. Colliding narrative storytelling with documentary filmmaking, it’s both a cautionary tale of American capitalism in Cuba and the first American feature filmed on the island since the revolution of 1959.
Our film is right on time to help bridge the people and cultures of Cuba and the U.S., and to spark discussion about how our two nations can create a new, sustainable relationship for a shared future.
A bold and humorous tale that's equal parts "Local Hero" and "Heart of Darkness."
A feature film born in a hurricane
Back in 2012, on the day Hurricane Sandy roared into New York, our filmmaking team battled the elements for hundreds of miles to find an open airport. Defying reason and naysayers, we landed in Havana and shot our feature film, "Forbidden Cuba," on location across the island in the span of three intense weeks. We captured a bold and humorous story - before the U.S. thaw in relations - in the streets, in homes and businesses. With just a small group of American and French filmmakers, we clandestinely incorporated the vibrancy and beauty of Cuba and its people into a film that's equal parts “Local Hero” and “Heart of Darkness.”
Traveling in Cuba, completely off the grid, our team filmed a country of incredible beauty, new possibilities, and striking contradictions. We wanted to make a film that collides narrative storytelling with documentary filmmaking, where fictional characters and scripted story lines intersect with real people and unexpected events, all to create something evocative. It was tough-going at times - true "run and gun" filmmaking that tested us all at every turn. We live to tell.
Guerrilla filmmaking that would make Ché proud.
- A five-person crew that withstood 11 hours of interrogation.
- A custom-engineered baseball cap, concealing a sound recorder, mixer, and wireless receivers.
- 3,000 photos of exotic birds to support our claim that we were documenting the birds of Cuba.
- Shredded scripts, distributed across the dumpsters of Havana.
- No permits, no permissions, no plan B.
- A film completed against all odds to open eyes, break down walls and reveal the truth of a rapidly changing Cuba.
CORE TEAM
Art jones - writer/director/producer
Art heads Great Jones Productions in New York, and as director/producer,fuses filmmaking with community-building to spark social action. His narrative films, "Dodgeball," "Going Nomad" and "Lustre" have played on HBO, PBS and in theaters, parking lots and bare-bulb basements across America. His documentary, "The Blood in this Town" traveled to all 50 states, sharing revitalization know-how with struggling small towns and cities. Art graduated from Brown, lives in Brooklyn and serves as Adjunct Professor of Film at Hunter College. He’s been nominated for Film Independent's John Cassavetes Award and does all stunts without a net.
RAphael duvernay - c0-director of photography/producer
Born in the French Alps, Raphael left for Paris to pursue a career in filmmaking. He met sound engineer Corentin Vinçon at the prestigious film school, ESRA (Ecole Supérieure de Réalisation Audiovisuelle), and since then, the two friends have collaborated on numerous film projects. In 2000, Raphael served as location manager for an American crew filming in Paris, and met Art Jones. One year later, Art assisted Raphael and his French team on “Trip,” Duvernay’s first short film, shot on location in NYC. Since then, Raphael has kept busy both as a director of photography and director. His passion for filming is only rivaled by his appetite for new adventures, whether it's a music video shot in Beirut for an Iraqi rock band, a documentary in Haiti or his latest short, “Auberge,” filmed in rural France.
joe foley - co-director of photography/producer
Joe Foley has been working in film for two decades and has shot 15 features. Filmmaking has taken him all over the world from Morocco, Helsinki, Singapore, Cambodia, and Bali to Paris and South Pasadena. Even though he has shot music videos in Ghana, television in Seoul and corporate videos in Shanghai, he found no location as exotic or as captivating as Cuba. The colors and designs there are magical and the people are incredibly warm and inviting. Working with the international team on “Forbidden Cuba” was a dream come true (if your idea of a dream is to shoot for 19 days straight and eat grilled lobster every other night). It was an amazing experience that continues to give, as the producing team works to craft a final dynamic film.
corentin vinçon - sound engineer/producer
Born a pure concrete-loving Parisian, Corentin grew up in a family of artists, feeding his passion for radio, film and travel. He befriended filmmaker Raphael Duvernay during their time at the prestigious film school, ESRA (Ecole Supérieure de Réalisation Audiovisuelle), and both partner frequently on a variety of projects that offer Corentin both technical challenges and distinct human perspectives. In pursuit of these two guiding principles, Corentin has dragged his sound gear from one end of the globe to the other, from the jungle islands of the South Pacific to the dry heights of Kabul, working on documentaries, narrative projects, and the occasional setting-up of a radio station. Corentin served as the sound engineer for Duvernay’s first short film, "Trip." and most recent short, “Auberge.” With the promise of recoding challenges and wild adventure, Corentin joined Art Jones’ crew for “Forbidden Cuba” and continues to serve as a core member of the producing team.