NCLAFF: Epicentro (Epicentro)

Dir. by Hubert Sauper. Cuba. 2020. 110 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. Free and open to the public.

Epicentro: The Young Prophets of Cuba is an immersive and metaphorical portrait of post-colonial, "utopian" Cuba, where the 1898 explosion of the U.S.S. Maine still resonates. This Big Bang ended Spanish colonial dominance in the Americas and ushered in the era of the American Empire. At the same time and place, a powerful tool of conquest was born: Cinema as propaganda. In his latest film, Academy Award nominee Hubert Sauper (Darwin's Nightmare) explores a century of interventionism and mythmaking, together with the extraordinary people of Havana-whom he calls "young prophets"-to interrogate time, imperialism and cinema itself.