EXCLUSIVE: Award-winning filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman are bringing the sound of Cuba to the Telluride Film Festival.
Their documentary Música!, about four young Cubans “who view music as a way of life,” premieres at the festival today. Additional screenings are happening Saturday and Sunday. We have your first look at the documentary in the clip above.
“Music is famously central to the Cuban spirit and way of life,” notes a synopsis of the film. “Like the old American cars that fill the streets, the musical instruments Cubans play have weathered decades of humid tropical climate. Without the resources or craft skills to keep them maintained, Cuban musicians hold their instruments together with the equivalent of spit and chewing gum.”
But in 2011, a U.S.- based group of musicians and instrument artisans stepped in, creating “an organization called Horns to Havana to help address this problem. H2H has been sending artisans from the US to Cuba every year since then to repair these instruments and teach young Cubans the skills they need to keep them in good condition.”
Epstein has won a pair of Oscars, for Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt and The Times of Harvey Milk. He and Friedman earned an Oscar nomination for their 2019 short documentary End Game. The filmmakers also won a Grammy for their 2019 film Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice.
“Having Música! up at Telluride is very special because Julie [Huntsinger, Telluride Film Festival director] understands the power of art as a connector between cultures,” Epstein said in a statement. “We were so fortunate to be invited into this incredible world at the intersection of music and culture, collaborating with Amadeo Roldán, the premiere music conservatory for high school students in Cuba, and Horns to Havana, the artisans who came from New York to work with the school on their instruments. We also got the chance to work with the great Cuban cinematographer Roberto Chile and a local crew.”
Friedman said, “The students take a class trip from Havana to New Orleans, where they jammed with some seasoned jazz musicians at the legendary Preservation Hall. The music they made together was intoxicating. As one of the Cuban artisans says in the film, ‘Without music, happiness is short.’”
You can catch a glimpse of that New Orleans trip in the exclusive scene above.
Música! is a film by Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman, and Susan Fanshel, a Telling Pictures production. Epstein and Friedman direct; producers are Epstein, Friedman, and Machu Latorre. Susan Sillins is the executive producer. Susan Fanshel edited the film. The directors of photography are Roberto Chile and Buddy Squires. Original music is composed by Isaiah Gage.