Havana, We Meet Again

It's my tenth time here, but the first as part of an entourage. I am here with a group from Lincoln Center, and my charge is to film a set of Cuban musicians preparing for a trip to New York, where they will play on the same stage as Joshua Bell,  one of the finest violinists of his generation. The Cubans' journey was seeded this past April, when Joshua, Dave Matthews, Smokey Robinson and Usher journeyed with President Obama's delegation of artists to Havana. They jammed with Cuban musicians and when Joshua returned, he began planning a collaboration which he hoped would take place in New York. Six months later, the date has arrived—Joshua will be joined onstage at Lincoln Center by the same artists he met in Havana last April. 

The musicians include Aldo Lopez-Gavilán, one of the subjects of our film, TWO BROTHERS, his wife Daiana Garcia, one of the island's finest young conductors, and the singer-songwriter Carlos Varela. Last night we filmed the final rehearsal of Daiana's Chamber Orchestra of Havana, nearly all-female, in the beautiful courtyard of Cocina de Lilliam, a family-run restaurant in Havana's Playa neighborhood. It was great to see Daiana up close; her energy is high, she brings Cuban rhythms and inflections to her work, and she has assembled an ensemble that reflects the island's variety of skin tones. 

Daiana Garcia, one of the island’s finest young conductors.

Our crew meeting took place over dinner at another restaurant, and included some of my oldest Cuban pals, many of whom are notable filmmakers and artists. Two visionary cinematographers—Roberto Chile, who filmed Fidel Castro on nearly 70 international trips, meeting every foreign leader from Mandela to Khadafi (he loved the former, didn’t trust the latter), Rafael Solis, who works in both documentary and fiction; Figa, our excellent sound recordist who just converted his childhood bedroom into one of Cuba’s first 5.1 studios, Ivan Soca, photographer and subject of our film, THE LENS, Claudia Maria Bueno, our favorite local producer, and Javier Rojas, our driver and dear friend. It’s a dream team, and we spent dinner catching up on our families’ news and planning the next day’s shoot.

The Cuban crew.

Evolution Cuba Hits Detroit

Andrew Black, filming Evolution Cuba: TWO BROTHERS in Detroit.

Aldo Lopez-Gavilán and Ilmar Gavilán, subjects of our film, TWO BROTHERS, continued their first ever U.S. tour in Detroit. Ilmar knew Detroit, as many years ago he won the Sphinx competition for classical players of color. Sphinx, in their efforts to integrate the world of classical music in the U.S., nurtured the Harlem Quartet, Ilmar’s group, which includes Melissa White, and African-American violinist, Jaime Amador, a Puerto Rican violist, and Felix Umansky, a Russian-Jewish cellist. But Aldo, joining the Quartet on this tour, had never heard of Detroit, and was shocked and delighted when we went to the Henry Ford Museum. Aldo had no idea that all of those sexy old American cars in Cuba were designed and built in Detroit. He was like a kid in a candy shop in the museum, ogling at the cars he knew from the 50s, as well as the Model Ts and a locomotive from the 1880s.

Ilmar thought he knew Detroit—he knew what most of us think we know—the narrative of a “failed city,” gutted by offshoring of factories, poverty, crime, white flight, etc. But then we went to the Heidelberg Project, a community art project started by the artist Tyrene Guyton in 1986. He took a block of burnt-out buildings and created something remarkable, which has evolved into a series of sculptures made from the flotsam and jetsam of modern life. Shoes, toys, discarded plastic and the like become the palette for a canvas of color and form, including a polka-dot house and brightly colored fences and gates. Ilmar and Aldo were blown away. Ilmar Face-timed his family to show them what he was seeing and experiencing, and told the camera that he never imagined this was possible. In Havana, yes—but in America, he had not seen this. They both spoke of the indomitable human desire to create beauty out of any materials available, regardless of how much or how little we have. The Havana-Detroit connection: cars, music...and art, in any form.

The Havana-Detroit connection: Ilmar and Aldo.

What Happens in Vegas...

Ilmar Gavilan, Aldo Lopez Gavilan, Ken Schneider

I caught up with Aldo and Ilmar, on tour in the U.S. for the first time (due to the loosening of U.S. restrictions on Cubans) in a downtown Vegas hotel. I filmed their concert with Ilmar’s Harlem Quartet at the Troesh Theater, part of Vegas’ new performance center intended for locals, away from the strip. After the show, hot and desperate for a cold drink, we shared cocktails and hit the boulevard, braving the crowds, taking the elevated tram, and descending into the lobby of the Bellagio, a Technicolor show somewhere between Candyland and Christmas. Walking through a world of chocolate fountains, talking trees and high-end shops, we arrived at the famed fountain and enjoyed the show. Ilmar loved it, in all of its tackiness; When Aldo asked me what people actually do here, I explained about the gambling, the weddings, the shows, the ability to drink alcohol on the street and buy absolutely anything one can afford. He mused that this is a city where people find many ways to waste money. I agreed.

Harlem Quartet

It was fascinating to see Vegas through their eyes—the immigrant who loves his adopted country and the brother who remained in Cuba, appreciates the generosity of American audiences, and is still skeptical of our various offerings. As I’ve often felt, there is nuance flying everywhere in their stories.