Salut les Cubains

Cheers to Agnès, the image harvester. The committed artist. Here is her film photographed in Cuba, edited in Paris, narrated in duet with Michel Piccoli. Cheers to this type of cinema inventing new forms. An auteur documentary blessed by Kaïros, the god of the opportune moment. To be there at the right time. To capture, to seize the change of the lifestyle. Her curiosity led her with her camera to the four corners of America, during the most revolutionary years. In the USA with the Black Panthers and in Cuba, four years after Fidel Castro came to power. This lesson in history and editing helps us learn as we move through this rhythmic slide show, selecting images from among the 1,800 photos taken by Agnès during her stay there. Thirty minutes to tell a country. Here is the rumba. The rebel revolutionaries. The students who teach the peasants to read. Wilfredo Lam, the Cuban Picasso. The dance of the scarves. The volunteers in the fields. Cuban women. The light. A Sunday where we do nothing. Where we dress up. Hemingway's house where nothing has moved, including the gardener. The frenetic time, the still images, give us a taste of the island and the Cuban street. We dance with the people. Without any artifice. Once again, the magic operates. The magic of Agnes. Unique. Poetic. Political.

Jennifer Alleyn
Filmmaker