Set in San Antonio De Los Baños, a sleepy town in inland Cuba, and shot in langurous black and white tableaux, The Oceans Are the Real Continents traces the stories of three generations of townspeople.
Lacerated by the Caribbean rain, Edith (Edith Ybarra Clara) and Alex (Alexander Diego) are both actors, an artsy couple in their 30s with an on-again, off-again relationship; they share moments of love, playfulness and resentment, grow apart and reconvene. Milagros (Milagros Llanes Martínez) is a lonely elder making a post-retired wage by selling manì (Cuban roasted peanut cones). She lives a quiet life of mundane tasks and memories from a long-gone past. Finally, Frank and Alain are two little boys who imitate the men around them and dream of emigrating to the United States and playing for the Yankees together.
An exquisite love poem to Cuba.
Patricia Boero, The Film Verdict
October 3 & 5: Q&A with director Tommaso Santambrogio
Alexander Diego, Edith Ybarra Clara, Frank Ernesto Lam, Alain Alain Alfonso González, Milagros Llanes Martínez
Cuba/Italy
2023
Panorama
In Spanish with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Executive Producer
Ricardo Figueredo Oliva, Marcello Mustilli, Alessandra Limentani
Producer
Marica Stocchi, Gianluca Arcopinto
Screenwriter
Tommaso Santambrogio
Cinematography
Lorenzo Casadio Vannucci
Editor
Matteo Faccenda
Production Design
Alexis Álvarez Armas
Director
Tommaso Santambrogio
Tommaso Santambrogio is a young Italian director; he has lived between Milan, Paris, Rome, Florence, and Havana, and has collaborated with several internationally renowned filmmakers, such as Werner Herzog and Lav Diaz. His first short films (Escena Final and Los Océanos Son Los Verdaderos Continentes) were both screened in 2019 at the Venice Film Festival and were then selected in many festivals around the world. Taxibol (2023), his new docu-film, recently premiered at Visions du Réel. Oceans Are the Real Continents is his first feature film and premiered at the Venice Film Festival.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Kikuyu Land
Kikuyu Land follows Mr. Mungai’s struggle to reclaim family land taken during the colonial era. Through personal stories and archival research, the film explores the enduring impact of land dispossession in Kenya.
Crocodile
In Crocodile, a group of young, self-taught filmmakers turn Kaduna's streets, homes, and residents into the raw materials of sci-fi cinema. This Tribeca Viewpoints winner examines filmmaking as a means to overcome a city's constraints.
The Only Living Pickpocket in New York
A career thief’s circumstances grow desperate when he fences valuable merchandise stolen from a vengeful crime family. John Turturro is exquisite as a wiseacre who is typically one step ahead of everyone but now finds himself behind the eight ball.
Yo (Love Is a Rebellious Bird)
Winner of the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution at this year's Berlinale, Anna Fitch and Banker White’s exuberant documentary combines vérité interviews with a playful mix of puppetry, collage, and insect actors to memorialize a friend.
Image: © Mirabel Pictures
Ceremony
Powerful and evocative, Ceremony follows the disappearance of the ooligan in Bella Coola, revealing a story of cultural survival, environmental stewardship, and the enduring relationship between the Nuxalk Nation and the land.
No Good Men
Naru, the sole camerawoman at a major Kabul newsroom, is convinced that there are “no good men” left in Afghanistan. But partnered with the station’s star reporter in the leadup to the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, her outlook starts to shift.