Sin La Habana: A Celebration to Cuban and Afro-Latino Culture With a Beautiful Story of Heartbreak

The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival 2022 presents Sin La Habana, a story of desperation and yearning featuring three souls hopeful for destiny in a hopeless world.

The Canadian-Cuban film might come off as just another story of immigrants finding ways to escape the poverty of their country for a better life somewhere else, but it ends up digging deeper and revealing a story of love, sacrifice, and opportunity. 

From scenes of witchcraft ceremonies involving loud drums and the decapitation of chicken to the gentle scenes of ballet dancers pirouetting and floating across the room to classical music, the film takes us on a colorful journey of emotions that begin in Cuba.

Leonardo, played by the award-winning Cuban dancer Yonah Acosta, seduces Nasim (Aki Yaghoubi), a Canadian-Iranian tourist in Cuba, in hopes to have her take him to Canada where he can seek a better future. The cath? The plan also involves Sara (Evelyn O’Farrill), Leonardo’s Cuban girlfriend who actually helps architect the fraudulent plan having Leonardo successfully win Nasim over for their own benefit. 

Leonardo wanted to be a professional ballet dancer, and Sara wanted to be an attorney. Cuba wasn’t giving them any of the opportunities they needed, so they had to find a way somewhere else to fulfill their ambitions.

“I want to be something in life,” says Sara to Leonardo in the film, always pushing him to do more for their future. 

Despite not knowing the real reasons for Leonardo’s interest, Nasim might not be such a victim to their plan. Her desires for fun and adventure led her to Leonardo, who later helped her indirectly find what she was looking for.

Directed by Canadian-Iranian Kaveh Nabatian, the film was premiered in 2020 and awarded Best Canadian Film during the 2021 Vancouver International Film Festival. 

Aside from a unique and heartbreaking plot, the success of Sin La Habana is in its ability to lead the audience through a wild adventure full of Cuban and Afro-Latino culture and costumes intensified by the moments captured of La Habana at its rawest, and the tunes. The music choice reminds us of Nabatian’s strong background as a musician, aside from film directing. Each drum beat, each tune, each song wraps us up in a world of love, ambition, and heartbreak. 

Sin La Habana is playing virtually at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival from February 16 through February 27th.