"Esteban", a different Cuban film in premiere movie theatres

Despite developing the plot in a very humble context in tune with the precarious situation in which many live in our society; the film avoids the sordidness, violence and coarseness that designate great part of our contemporary productions to set up as a credible song to hope and to the value of dreams.

The story of a child that with no resources but his talent insists on being a pianist centers the argument of the feature film, which has the original music of Chucho Valdés and script from Amílcar Salatti, who is the co-author of the present Cuban soap opera Latidos compartidos, and author of the TV show De amores y esperanzas, that was recently broadcasted on Cubavisión TV channel.

The particularly important performances in the film are the 9-year-old Reynaldo Guanchein, in the leading role, who took on the project with just a three month acting training he received after being selected in a casting organized by the Hermanos Saíz Association.

In a press conference offered before the premiere, the child referred to the support he received from the rest of the staff, particularly Yuliet Cruz and Manuel Porto, who made the roles of his mother and the piano professor, respectively.

Both actors prove to deserve the prestige they have, however in the case of the actress despite the similitudes this character has with the one she played in the film Conducta, by filmmaker Ernesto Daranas.

In the press meeting, Yuliet Cruz expressed being concerned about the acceptance this marked characterization, best traditionally accepted in comedy than in drama, genre in which the film is inscribed, would have among the spectators.   

She said she rested on a team work with the make-up artist and the designers to achieve the character she conceived based on the script’s purposes for which she had the memory she had of her own mother during the most difficult years of the Special Period as reference.    

Cosculluela stated that having studied Cuban films shot  during the last five years, he is concerned about that the explicit presence on them of “sex, violence and adults language” is becoming an aesthetics of the national cinema, so he took the risk of a different proposal for his first work.  

Esteban was produced by the Casa Discográfica Colibrí, RTV Comercial, Mediapro and the collaboration of the AHS. The photography director was Lianet Marcoleta; art director, Maykel Martínez; musical design, Sheyla Pool; Alían Hernández, edition and Maritza Ceballos in the production direction.

Translation: Liana Fleitas (Cubarte)

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