Habana Shakes
Feature film. documentary
2023
FEATURING
- Yelda del Carmen Leyva
- Iván Lejardi Mesa
- Teresita Padilla Sotolongo
- Yojany Pérez Rivera
- Shellys Mayara Fernandez Sanchez
Over ten days in Havana, HABANA SHAKES follows five young Cubans—a skater, a tattoo artist, an actor, a ballerina and an electronica DJ - as they pursue their art, relationships and dreams in a country on the cusp of change.
Moving through streets, homes, rooftops and nightclubs, the film immerses us in their music, dance, family and spiritual lives, revealing a Cuba rarely seen on screen. Politics is ever-present, projected onto the crumbling walls of the city, but it never eclipses the people living within it.
Lyrical, observational and driven by an eclectic soundtrack, HABANA SHAKES is a valentine to young Cuba - a slow film for fast times, alive with creativity, friendship and the joy of making a life on your own terms.
- BEST FILM
- Byron Bay International Film Festival, 2023
- EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
- Frances Jenkin
- PRODUCERS
- Marcelle Lunam, Tamara Popper
- WRITER/DIRECTOR
- Marcelle Lunam
- CINEMATOGRAPHY
- Luis Posada
- EDITOR
- Joelle Baudet
The Music.
The music in HABANA SHAKES, connects Cuba’s past, present and future, tracing a line from Santería ritual music and the Yoruba roots of rumba through trova, jazz fusion, hip-hop and electronica.
We open on the Malecón at dawn with Wichy de Vedado’s “Machetero”. A pillar of Havana’s underground scene, Wichy fuses funk, rock, reggae, hip-hop and electronica. His music recurs throughout the film, from the Cuban jazz inflections of “Mototanke” to the storm-lit “Tu Serás” and “Están Pa’ Calentar” as the skaters take over Paseo del Prado.
Benny Moré’s bolero “Mi Amor Fugaz” accompanies Yelda along the Malecón and Maya dancing with her father. At El Gran Palenque, we filmed Tambores de Bejucal performing traditional rumba during Sábado de la Rumba. Yissy García’s irrepressible “Bikini Club” drives Teresita’s tattoo-parlour scene and closes the film. Yissy is the daughter of Bernardo García, a founding percussionist of Irakere who also played with Arturo Sandoval.
Iván Lejardi’s electronica draws on Yoruba musical and spiritual traditions alongside the British psybient of Shpongle. His music threads through the film, including his collaboration with Wichy, “Guamparagroove – Abakuá”, during his DJ set at Sarao. The soundtrack also moves beyond Cuba, with atmospheric avant-folk from Japanese ensemble Tsuki No Wa and Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott’s haunting rendition of Saint-Saëns’ “The Swan”, accompanying Yelda’s rehearsal with Danza Acosta.
Listen and discover more:
soundcloud.com/wichy-de-vedado
yissygarcia.bandcamp.com
dalehavana.com
