Tuesday October 4th, 2016
7:00- 8:30 Pauling 216
When the Soviet Union fell, Cuba pedaled its way to independence–by bicycle. What has become of Havana’s sole-powered communities born out of the need to move without petrol? Many city inhabitants live, love or hate the bicycle these days. However, unlike in the toughest part of the Special Period, they struggle with difficulties like expensive spare parts and inadequate public infrastructure. This documentary by Jaime Santos Menéndez and Jennifer Ruth Hosek takes us into the diverse and yet similar lives of five Havana cyclists. Guided by a Virgilesque, street-wise mechanic, it maps the city and relates a unique people’s history begun in the nineties past of the Chinese Forever bicycle. Rodando’s bicycle-level vision reveals a lot about Cuba’s present and future.
Tomás Crowder-Taraborrelli 