Coquitlam Public Library

Balseros: Cuban Rafters

videorecording

Balseros: Cuban Rafters

921959334

Originally produced by Seventh Art Releasing in 1994

120

In the summer of 1994, a team of public television reporters filmed and interviewed seven Cubans a few days before their risky venture of setting out to sea in homemade rafts to reach the coast of the United States. Six made it far enough to be picked up at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard. When these balseros (rafters) were finally allowed to go to the United States, the film crew went with them to a string of several cities. Seven years later, the film crew visits them again, to discover that their destiny has been in the United States. Theirs is a true story about some of the authentic survivors of our times, the human adventure of people who are shipwrecked between two worlds. Accolades *Best Documentary Academy Award Nominee *Amnesty Award Honorable Mention CPH:DOX *Best Documentary Goya Award Nominee *Best Work of a Non-Latin American Director on a Latin America Subject - Documentary Havana Film Festival *Memoria Documentary Award Havana Film Festival *Best Feature Documentary IDA Awards *Best DocumentaryTuria Awards "The documentary achieves a rare depth and intimacy in its portrait of dreams fulfilled and shattered." -Hollywood Reporter "An eloquent, nonjudgmental examination of the immigrant experience." -Minneapolis Star Tribune "Compelling." -The Park Record Poignant, spirited, revealing. -Christian Science Monitor

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