After the success of the song ‘Homeland and Life’ in 2021, Beatriz Luengo directs a documentary of the same name that hits theaters this Friday, October 18. With Yotuel Romero as protagonist, The production narrates how the song became an anthem for freedom in Cuba, even becoming as a slogan in the historic protests of July 11, 2021.
“A picture is worth a thousand words. The song was words, but the documentary opens up that spectrum of audiences and it is a much more massive audience because they can see with their eyes the reality that the song describes“, explains Yotuel Romero in an interview with Europa Press.
“What excites me most is that Cubans can see the result of the bravery of July 11. People took to the streets for the first time in 64 years shouting ‘homeland and life’, but how they took down the Internet“They couldn’t see the media impact they had”explains Beatriz Luengo, citing that more than a thousand people were arrested for demonstrating. “They will be able to see the positive part of having gone out into the streets and that is that the whole world talked about them.“, he assures.
For Luengo, “it is not that people do not want to talk about what is happening in Cuba,” but he emphasizes that other conflicts, such as those in Ukraine or Venezuela, overshadow the situation on the island. “I would love for there to be a substantial change in how Cuba is seen, for there to begin to be solidarity, for the regime to stop having a sympathy that it does not deserve. and that we, as Spain and the gateway to Europe, take that message further,” claims the director.
“I know that the world is supportive. I still trust in humanity, I refuse to think that the world is cruel and is not sensitive to the misfortunes of countries. I feel that this film is going to raise awareness in the world regarding misfortune. that Cuba is suffering with a totalitarian regime,” says Romero. “There are going to be voices that perhaps we never expected to rise and they will rise in pursuit of the freedom of Cuba“he predicted.
ART, ALSO FREE
In addition to showing the situation in Cuba, ‘Patria y Vida’ is also Luengo and Romero’s commitment to free art. ““We have to go back to freer music and when you found a song by an artist that you didn’t expect and that song changed your life,” Romero says.
“Our song has 400 million on the TikTok hashtag. What does it mean? This is my message to younger people. You can also create your own algorithm. The algorithm has to serve you, you cannot work for the algorithm. If you think about it, the algorithm will work for you. For me that is ‘Patria y Vida’, the result that, in the world of art, you have to take risks and tell things beyond what is on the horizon. and everyone goes for a commercial exercise“says Luengo.