Roberto Salinas
Cuban dancer
Part of
Cuban dancer

Cuban dancer

Roberto Salinas

2020
98 min.
Italy, Canada and Chile
Spanish and English
Subtitles: Spanish and English

A talented Cuban ballet student emigrates to Florida. He leaves behind friends, his homeland and his youth love, but he takes his passion for dancing with him.

Datasheet

Show
Direction
Roberto Salinas
Sound
Arthur Byer
Distribution
Deckert Distribution
Production
Simone Catania (Indyca, Italy)
Co-production
Paul Cadieux (Film Option International, Canada), Fernando Lataste (Valdivia Films, Chile)
Co-author and choreography
Laura Domingo Aguero
Editing
Abrahahm Lifshitz, Piero Lassandro, Armando Duccio Ventriglia
Music
Caroline Chaspoul & Eduardo Henriquez (Beta Pictoris)
Synopsis

Alexis Valdés, a talented student at the National Ballet School of Cuba, emigrates with his parents to Florida to reunite with his sister. For four years we have seen the journey of a 15-year-old Cuban teenager, passionate about dance and in love with Yelenia, who in 2016 will be forced to rebuild his dreams in a radically new environment. He feels lonely and disoriented, far from the warmth of his native Cuba, but no one will be able to rob him of his desire to dance.

We follow Alexis ’odyssey to find his way into the bourgeois and elitist world of American ballet while remaining true to his Cuban roots. The lightness of director Roberto Salinas’ camera work manages to capture the young man’s emotions. As we reflect on cultural identities, borders and economic barriers, the documentary offers original interludes of Alexis performing the choreographies of Laura Domingo Aguero, co-editor and co-writer of the film. These moments of pure joy of dancing bring us closer to the deep soul of an unforgettable story.

About the direction
Roberto Salinas

Roberto Salinas

Director

Roberto Salinas is a Director, Producer, Screenwriter, Director of Photography. His previously direc...

DocsBarcelona Trajectory

2016
DocsBarcelona Industry · Speed Meetings
Edició 2016

Awards and festivals

Dok Fest Munchen (Official Selecion Best of Fests)
Germany, 2021
One World International Film Festival
Czech Republic, 2021
Vision du Reel
Switzerland, 2021
San Francisco Film Festival (Feature Documentary Audience Award)
USA, 2021
Alice nella città (included in the International Rome Film Festival)
Italy, 2020
Havana International Film Festival
Cuba, 2020
Miami IFF 2021 (Knight Made in MIA Feature Film Award)
USA, 2021
Glocal Film Festival (Best Documentary)
Italy, 2021
Roberto Salinas
Cuban dancer
Watch the trailer
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Reviews

Cuban Dancer is a joyous film, a rare moment of hope in a world too often cynical with the futures of young people.

— Shelagh Rowan-Legg · ScreenAnarchy

Salinas concentrates squarely on Alexis's personal experience with sensitive sympathy.

— Neil Young · Screen International
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