70 mns, UK, 2019

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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

ICAIC

Funded by the AHRC