WELCOME TO HAVANA

Short dynamic shots take with an unsteady handheld camera, amateur colored grainy images and salsa music.

The sun rises. Panoramic view of the city from El Morro. Ruined facade of a rundown building in Old Havana with government propaganda. 

VOICE (V.O.)

What are the main reasons to pick out a city as a tourists´ haven? 

General shots of mulatto girls in old Havana disguised in traditional outfits. View of vintage cars and cocotaxis. General shot of Castillo del Morro and La Cabaña. 

VOICE (V.O.)

Perfection? (slightly ironic)

Latin jazz music fades in and images changes from grainy to shiny and peaceful.

View of Catedral with tables put up on the outside. A ship sailing into the bay. 

VOICE (V.O.)

The capital of the island, Havana City, with the most important harbor in all Cuba, makes for an obliged visit.

General view of 5th Ave. Children playing on a sidewalk, behind them a chalk graffiti over zinc which reads: “Abajo los motores de combustible” (No more fuel engines). General shot of Prado and Malecón.

VOICE (V.O.)

Prado, with its life-sized bronze lions, is one of the loveliest avenues visited by everyone in Havana.

General view of Prado displaying its trees. Group of old people practicing tai shi–chuan y couples with little children, including gay couples with adopted kids.

VOICE (V.O.)

Havana inhabitants take great concern for air quality.

Clusters of young people: hippies, rappers, dancers and plastic artists performing at the base of the statues at Presidents Ave.

VOICE (V.O.)

The Malecón Avenue, one of the most diverse places in Havana. Six kilometers bathed by the gentle waters of the Caribbean Sea.

View of 23rd Ave. and Malecón. We can see people playing guitar on Malecón, talking, walking around, romancing. View of the waves. A film crew is shooting something (A young man holding up a digital camera focused on two actors; a few other people behind him: one of them holding a microphone). 

VOICE (V.O.)

Havana is a city in constant development which has turned into the third largest city in the New World…

View of the buildings in Miramar Trade Center with a modern look, and mansions belonging to corporations or embassies in Playa. 

Foreign tourists grouping on the stairs of Capitol. 

On the streets of Old Havana, a Hindi woman with national attires points at the front of a building to an occidentally dressed Hindi man, while both read from a tourist guiding book and a group of Arabs crosses the street behind them.

VOICE (V.O.)

About 10 millions of tourists, not only from abroad, but also Cubans, visit Havana every year.

Tourists from inland, with caps or t-shirts featuring their provinces logos, eat at a typical Cuban restaurant. 

A group of tourists dressed in indigenous clothing from some Latin-American country entering the Fine Arts Museum.

VOICE (V.O.)

Famous for its cultural mélange, its arms are open for visitors … and those that decide to move in.

Views of Hamel Alley, Bet Salom Sinagogue, Chinatown, House of Asia, people buying papier maché. Shiny happy people having fun.

VOICE (V.O.)

In the streets you will find plenty of public and civil actions. Havana people are very enthusiastic about civic activism and to support people of other countries in their initiatives of develop a democratic system.

Among a group entering and leaving the buildings there’s a transsexual, all wearing the same executive clothing.

VOICE (V.O.)

Or a collective bath in remembrance of the past years of pollution in Havana Bay, so it won’t happen again.

Along the Malecón boundaries a group of youngsters dive into the sea in the evening, then they climb back again in the reefs to dive again and again. There are others who are fishing. People are looking from behind, taking pictures in a holiday mood…

VOICE (V.O.)

And take participation in some of the many parades and manifestations convoked by non-governmental organizations.

A group of Japanese walk in front of a destroyed building where a crew, all wearing same-colored t-shirts, hand blue packages to the inhabitants in the entryway … there are some tent houses spread.

VOICE (V.O.)

Those who stand for banishment of death penalty and national armies, as means to secure world peace, are more supported because Cuba has maintained peace for almost 50 years without need of any of them.

In a square full of walking people, cops are visible wearing carnations on the lapels, and also there are persons with flowers on their hair…

VOICE (V.O.)

Havana University has one of the most attractive campuses in the entire world. Students from all over arrive to receive knowledge through no longer separated subjects as sciences, theosophy, and arts. 

Views of the stairs that lead to the University with students sitting on the steps with notebooks over laps, knapsacks and books. Entering or leaving some building. 

VOICE (V.O.)

Offers the most actualized plans of study in all the world. Students are able to self-calificate themselves and introduce in their optional courses the most recent visions and concepts. 

A couple of girlfriends with knapsacks and hands full of books crosses the square and joins a group that enters a building. To show racial plurality and modes of fashion.

VOICE (V.O.)

23rd Ave. is known for its variety of cultural and recreative spaces: cinemas, literary coffee houses, theatres, art galleries, restaurants and night clubs.

Fast motion images from the inside of a car driving by 23rd Avenue: Coppelia, cinemas… among the passers-by there are a couple of transsexual and interracial groups. View of people disposing of garbage plastic bags in garbage bins specifically made for plastic disposal, and some others disposing of empty cardboard boxes in other garbage bins.

VOICE (V.O.)

In literary coffee houses you will know about the rich cultural life in Havana and buy, digital or printed, a copy of the many alternative magazines of arts and literature, independent films, self-made publications and underground albums.

Planes from the interior of Café G people sitting at the tables smoking cigarettes, reading books, or simply having conversations, going in or going out. People standing talking to each other at the tables, a general sense of mobility… Also an interracial lesbic couple.

23rd Avenue in fast motion camera.

Planes from Café 12 y 23rd, through the marquee, outside night is falling and lights are turned on, there are people waiting outside near the entry door. Inside other people sip happily from their coffee cups, smiling. Camera focusing on lips over coffee cup rims and smiling. People with laptops, people in front of bookshelves… this place is peaceful even though there are tables put together and several groups laughing aloud. 

23rd Avenue from Malecón in fast motion camera.

VOICE (V.O.)

Too much fun in the city? You can always use a “call-a-bike” to go and rest at the beach without causing pollution…

Views of a parking lot full of bicycles and of a public park full of people … cars going by. Views of tourists from inland driving in their bikes joyful, playful. View of the sea from the highway. View of people in bathing suits playing in the sand. People seating in chairs, in front of small tables under big umbrellas, sipping from cocktails or sunbathing over spread towels in the sand… people having fun among the waves seen in the distance… Put racial, age and procedence diversity. 

VOICE (V.O.)

An excellent choice are the famous beaches of Havana. In the evenings it will be nice to help in the “sand cleaning” promoted by the International Program of Ambiental Sanity, to keep beaches clean and maintain a sustainable touristic development.

People walking in the evening and a few others picking up discarded cans tossed in the sand. A bunch of kids in the company of a man… the ones picking up the cans have the same color on their t-shirts…

VOICE (V.O.)

After the sun sets, Havana's performing arts come to life… 

The famous Havana theatres feature only the most distinguished actors. A great variety of plays are played for the first time every day, and many of them become international hits afterwards.

View of the sun setting over the sea… and the corner of 23rd and Malecón turning darker as cars speed by…

Views of Chaplin cinema or Infanta cinema when crowds leaves from watching movies, queer people… diversity.

View of Buendía Theater in the evening with illuminated gates and garden. Exterior views of Prado and interiors of García Lorca Theatre. View of the poster of a play by Teatro El Público.

VOICE (V.O.)

At night, it is time to get some fun Havana style… The famous nightclubs offer lively shows with the power to light up the night and get you ready for bars, after-hours, and whatever comes with the hand of a thrill…

View of travestied show at El Periquiton restaurant… 

Views of billboards at clubs on 23rd, People outside waiting to enter or going out. Going down the stairs to some underground club, filming dancing crowds in the inside. Views of some interiors. People of different skin color kissing each other, sexily swaying. Must show variety of dance styles: afro referents, Latin, urban, pop, rock, oriental, mystic, etc… 

Views of gay ambient in Malecón…

VOICE (V.O.)

That causes Havana to be known as Paris of the Antilles.

March 2007