Calendar

Venue:
IG Fortuna
Eisenbahnstraße 162
04315 Leipzig


7.00 pm Music with DJ Schellack
Film starts at around 8.45 pm: Documentary by Carsten Möller, Germany / Cuba 2007, 85 mins, original version with subtitles
Followed by a discussion with the filmmaker

The name ‘Buena Vista Social Club’ – who hasn’t heard of it? It’s a CD and a film; it’s the extraordinarily successful project by Ry Cooder, who, on his trip to Cuba in 1996, discovered and brought fame to the musical magicians Ibrahim Ferrer, Compay Segundo, Rubén González and many other men, all of whom were well advanced in years – and made them famous, not least through the Grammy Award for ‘Best Tropical Latin Performance’ (which, in turn, was no small factor in Wim Wenders’ triumphant run). So far, so familiar. Unfortunately, however, a great deal was lost in the course of commercial dealings and the establishment of the label within the music and film industries. The fact, for example, that the label’s origins lay in a club with a primarily social function (for the Black community), situated in a run-down neighbourhood in western Havana that had little to offer apart from the ‘buena vista’ of the sea. As early as 1998, the Leipzig-based media professional and documentary filmmaker Carsten Möller set out to trace the roots of the myth. What he unearths are not the ‘global heroes’ Ibrahim or Rubén, but the ‘local heroes’ (spanning several generations) and the Afro-Cuban culture they embodied. Founded in 1932 and closed in 1962, the club is brought back to life in the film – social identities are recounted and analysed here, but also simply danced. And how! Whether young or old. The danzón lives on. At least for the time being. DJ Schellack is an old acquaintance of the Fortuna Cinema. He was one of the first to campaign for the preservation of the old Fortuna Cinema. A native of Sellerhausen, this neighbour – now a DJ, gardener, self-sufficient loner and doer – used to visit the cinema opposite as a child for countless afternoon screenings. This time, the long-time traveller to Cuba brings a selection of Latin American rhythms from his extensive collection of shellac records. Will there be dancing behind the cinema? Absolutely! Afterwards, there will be a discussion with filmmaker Carsten Möller about the making of his film and the current situation in Cuba.