Tommaso Santambrogio | Italy, 2023, 50'
Driving around the streets of Cuba, Lav Diaz – the famous Filipino director – and Gustavo Flecha – a talkative Cuban taxi driver – find themselves discussing about politics, migration, social conditions and love; touching many personal stories and experiences, they create an historical affresco of the conditions of their own countries. During their dialogues, the real reason of the director’s presence in Cuba emerge: Lav is looking for a mysterious ex-general escaped from the Philippines after the end of the Marcos dictatorship, Juan Mijares Cruz. He wants to get justice for the Filipino people by finding the bloodthirsty old soldier. Cold and violent, Juan Mijares Cruz hide in a Finca far from civilization and history, where an inevitably malignant everyday life takes place.
Tommaso Santambrogio is an Italian filmmaker and writer (1992). He lived and studied in Milan, Paris, Roma and La Havana and he worked with several international acclaimed directors, like Werner Herzog and Lav Diaz. His last short movies (The Last Scene and The Oceans Are the Real Continents) were both presented at the Mostra Internazionale del Cinema di Venezia and in many other important Festival all over the world. L’Ultimo Spegne la Luce is his last short work (2021). He is currently developing his first feature film with Rosamont and Rosso.
