70 mns, UK, 2019
A film about the elements – hurricanes and rain, the sea and the earth. About a fishing port on the north coast of Cuba which has seen better days: Caibarién, where Hurricane Irma – one of the most powerful ever to sweep the Caribbean – made landfall on 9th September 2017.
About the effects of climate across the centuries in a Caribbean island sucked into global markets for its commodity crops – tobacco, coffee and above all, sugar. How sugar changed the landscape, through deforestation and soil exhaustion.
About the collapse of sugar and the encroachment of a new commodity market – tourism.
About the growing threat from climate change, and the move towards reforestation, ecotourism and sustainable farming.
The film is available in two forms: complete, and as three separate parts.
Sous-titres en français maintenant disponibles
A book Cuba: Living Between Hurricanes has also now been published.
Filmed, Edited & Directed by Michael Chanan
Written & Produced by Jonathan Curry-Machado and Jean Stubbs
Advisors: Reinaldo Funes Monzote ･ Pedro Manuel González Reinoso
Made under aegis of the School of Advanced Study, University of London, for the Commodities of Empire British Academy Research Project
in collaboration with:
Fundación Antonio Núñez Jiménez de la Naturaleza y el Hombre
Funded by the AHRC