Section: Focus

El Enemigo

The Enemy

Aldemar Matías
Cuba, 2015, 26 Min

The enemy is the mosquito, carrier of the dengue fever. With a combination of individual commitment and all the state-sponsored support they can muster, the members of this fumigation brigade pursue the foe across the ramshackle housing stock that covers most of Old Havana.

EICTV - Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV de Cuba

The aedes genus of mosquitoes is not only the “enemy of the fatherland, but indeed the enemy of all mankind.” They have infected around 300,000 people with dengue fever in the space of a year: Aldemar Matías begins his film with black and white footage from the state film institute ICAIC, after which the camera accompanies Mayelín and her colleagues from the anti-mosquito brigade, which is tasked with tracking down the dangerous species and its larva amongst the neighbourhoods of central Havana. They search flats, hand out fines and clear the way for the white clouds of smoke that make up the pesticides.

This hunt for an invisible enemy makes for a stellar documentary observation, both Kafkaesque and full of tragicomic stoicism. WMH

Filmformat
HDFile | Farbe / colour
Drehbuch
Alberto Santana, Aldemar Matias
Kamera
Tininiska Simpson
Ton
Matheus Massa
Schnitt
Emmanuel Peña
Darsteller
Mayelín Martinez, Marbelis Lamoth, Delaires Rodríguez, Nestor Velasco
Produzent
Denisse Casado
Produktion
Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión (EICTV)
Kontakt
Escuela Internacional de Cine y
Televisión (EICTV)
Finca San Tranquilino, Km. 4 ½ carretera Vereda Nueva
32500 San Antonio de los Baños
Cuba
Tel.: +55.92.3664.78 50
www.eictv.org.cu
Aldemar Matías

Aldemar Matías - born 1985 in Manaus, Brazil. He graduated in film direction from the Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. He is a Berlinale Talents Alumnus and his work has been honoured internationally with several awards. He has lately been working on his feature film debut.

Movies
PARENTE (2011, short, doc)
AÑOS DE LUZ (2014, short, doc)
WHEN I GET HOME (2014, short, doc)