Cuba and USA / 2005 / 70mins / Documentary / English and Spanish

When hip-hop takes to Havana, Cuban artists' spirited beats and rhymes are just as much a product of the troubled economy as of their insatiable revolutionary spirit. The film intimately engages five hip-hop groups and two producers as they negotiate the Havana summer. With Havana's 9th Annual National Hip-Hop Festival approaching, invited performers prepare, battling economic hardship, unsympathetic mothers, and the threat of government censorship. Everyone must decide where they stand, from established groups seeking institutional support to fledgling cooperatives establishing alternative circuits, with allegiances ranging from commercial to feminist vegan.

With unheard of access to some of Cuba's best musicians, this documentary witnesses the future of Cuban hip-hop in the making and a look at Cuba through the eyes of its youth.

Anna Boden

Born in 1976 in Berkeley, California, Anna Boden is an American film director, cinematographer, editor, and screenwriter best known as the co-writer of the 2006 film Half Nelson. She is also famous for her collaborations with fellow filmmaker Ryan Fleck. While studying film at NYU, Boden met Ryan Fleck on the set of a student film. Soon they began dating and decided to collaborate. Together they made the short documentaries Have You Seen This Man? and Young Rebels before they wrote and he directed the short film Gowanus, Brooklyn, a sample feature aiming to attract potential financiers to their undeveloped script, Half Nelson. The short won a prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Boden and Fleck then made the film Half Nelson starring Ryan Gosling in 2006. In April 2017, Boden and Fleck were hired to direct the Marvel Studios film Captain Marvel. The film was released in March 2019 and became a box office success. They also directed the first two episodes and produced the television show Mrs. America. Learn More

Ryan Fleck

Ryan Fleck, born September 20, 1976, is an American film director, cinematographer, editor, and screenwriter best known for directing and writing the 2006 film Half Nelson and the 2008 film Sugar. He is also famous for his collaborations with fellow filmmaker Anna Boden. Fleck was born in Berkeley, California and raised in Berkeley and Oakland, California. He attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts where he studied film. At this time he met Anna Boden on the set of a student film and, after he finished his thesis short film Struggle, they began dating and decided to collaborate. Together they made the short documentaries Have You Seen This Man? and Young Rebels before they wrote and he directed the short film Gowanus, Brooklyn, a sample feature aiming to attract potential financiers to their undeveloped script, Half Nelson. The short won a prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. The film was well received by critics and got nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for Ryan Gosling. In April 2017, Boden and Fleck were hired to direct the Marvel Studios film Captain Marvel. The film was released in March 2019 and became a box office success. They also directed the first two episodes and produced the television show Mrs. America. Learn More