What do Mick Jagger, Barack Obama, and PatchWorks have in common?

The answer: Cuba, March 2016 . . . if our Kickstarter campaign is successful.

Barack is definitely going. The Rolling Stones are doing a Latin American tour and have not announced a date in Cuba yet, but we think they just might. And Ken is scheduled to shoot and edit the first short in the (R)EVOLUTION CUBA series next month.  

Many thanks to the 144 of you for ponying up already and  reaching out across your networks. We're in the final push to make our goal. We have 10 days to go in this all or nothing campaign.   If you haven't yet watched our trailer, will you check it out and see if you lend support. A donation? An introduction to someone who can help? A post?  Info found at: bit.ly/revolutioncubadocs.

Here are some sample posts below, we'd love you to share.

#CUBA #ART #SOCIALISM #MARKET #CHANGE @PatchWorks Films launches short doc series. Trailer @ bit.ly/revolutioncubadocs Plz RT!

OR

Join me in supporting @PatchWorks Films new (Revolution #Cuba #film --#art for the people collides with market forces. Trailer and info @ bit.ly/revolutioncubadocs. 

OR

Rum. Jazz. Vintage Cars. We think we know Cuba. We hear about shortages, lack of opportunities, expected regime change, refugees and lucrative business deals. Lost is the remarkable debate where revolutionary ideals face off against the market's seduction. In Cuba, where 98% of the people are literate, have healthcare, a home, and free education, artists are not fringe. They are vanguard and they are in a quandry. Opportunity vs. free expression vs. socialism. How will they choose? Or can they have it all? (R)EVOLUTION CUBA brings you six short film stories of artists at the heart of an evolving nation.

AND 

If you are in the Bay Area, please joining us for one of two free events (and invite your friends!):

El Oso, featured in WHEEL OF LIFE. Sneak Preview screenings.

CUBA NIGHT: Feb. 23 - Berkeley - FREE

We will be screening a sneak preview of our upcoming short film THE WHEEL OF LIFE, featuring El Oso, one of the founders of Casino (the unheralded godmother of salsa), and hosting a discussion of the intersection of art, socialism and the market in contemporary Cuba.  Post-screening Q & A with the filmmakers, Marcia Jarmel & Ken Schneider, Malia Everette of Altruvistas, and UC Berkeley Lecturer Elizabeth Vasile, Ph.D. RSVP and details at:bit.ly/revcubaberkeley.

FILM, SALSA, & CELEBRATION: Feb. 24 - Free

The beloved Bissap Baobab in San Francisco’s Mission District is hosting a free salsa party, and has generously offered to donate 20% of the night's proceeds to (R)EVOLUTION CUBA!Admission is free before 10pm. If you want to join a select few for a West African dinner with us, back (R)EVOLUTION CUBA at the $100 or higher level at bit.ly/revolutioncubadocs.    RSVP and details at: bit.ly/baobabsalsa. We'll be screening WHEEL OF LIFE at 7. Dancing starts at 8.

AND 

If you haven't checked out the art perks we have, consider upping your contribution to own original photos, music, signed books at  bit.ly/revolutioncubadocs.  

Rochy was rock start David Blanco on the Todas Contracorriente tour with PatchWorks last spring.

New today is a CD of beloved Cuban singer-songwriter, Rochy. Virtually impossible to find outside Cuba, this music will knock on your heart's door. We had the pleasure of meeting and touring with Rochy and her colleagues last spring in Cuba.  We're thrilled to be sharing her music here.

Questions, suggestions, ideas? Let us know. info@patchworksfilms.net.

Adelante!

Live from Havana

Havana, Day 1

The airport in Cancun is both a transition from San Francisco to Cuba and a cautionary tale. The food court screams out, Johnny Rockets! Starbucks! California Pizza Kitchen!  And the ubiquitous Duty Free, where I buy a few small bottles of American Whiskey for friends in Cuba.  In my day long journey, necessary due to the difficulties of travelling under the embargo (the embargo still exists, in spite of Presidents Obama and Raul Castro agreeing to loosen restrictions and move towards “normalization” of relations), gave me much time to meet a Spanish artist,  a Brazilian-American professor of Informatics, and members of the growing cadre of American tourists and travellers racing to Cuba “before it’s too late.” I assure them that Cuba’s transition will be incremental, and many of the things I love about this island—the music, dance, sport, and the joie de vivre—are not going anywhere. Or so I hope, being an optimist.

My good friend Javier met me at the Jose Marti airport with his older son, who does the lights and sound for Javier’s comedy performances. Javier is always my first contact on the island, and he fills me in on his family (his wife gives birth to a boy in 5 months!), the new photo exhibitions of our friends Rick Swig and Roberto Chile, and my Cuban cel phone, which he uses when I am not in country. As always, his young daughters have erased my contacts.

After settling into my casa particular, an apartment rented out by a local in Havana’s Vedado district (pre-Air B n B, Cubans have rented out extra rooms or empty homes to travellers for years), I meet my friend Ernesto Wong for dinner. Ernesto is a professor of linguistics at the University of Havana, is fluent in Spanish, English and French, and has a keen understanding of our cultural similarities and differences. He also serves as my translator, helpjng me not only with language but with cross-cultural subtleties that I sometimes miss. Our conversation sprawls from language stylistics to voting in Cuba and the U.S. (always interesting to see our system through the lens of an outsider) and the confluence of art, Cuba, the encroaching market, and free expression.

Saying goodnight, I strolled to La Rampa, one of Cuba’s first wi-fi hotspots, to check e-mails. Monday night is fairly slow at La Rampa; later in the week this 4-block corridor will be filled with people on their laptops and cels, communicating with friends and family on and off the island, gaming, managing their facebook pages.

Back in my casa a little after midnight, I discover that Anisa, the owner of the casa, had left a plate of sliced papaya, pineapple and guava in the fridge. I love this island.

- Ken