Without Havana

Sin La Habana
Directed by	Kaveh Nabatian
Written by	Kaveh Nabatian
Produced by	Gabrielle Tougas-Fréchette Ménaïc Raoul
Starring	Yonah Acosta Evelyn O’Farrill Aki Yaghoubi
Cinematography	Juan Pablo Ramírez
Edited by	Sophie Leblond
Music by	Kaveh Nabatian
Production company	Voyelles Films
Distributed by	Maison 4:3
Release date	October 7, 2020 (2020-10-07)(FNC)
Running time	94 minutes
Countries	Canada, Cuba
Languages	Spanish English Persian

Sin La Habana is a Canadian-Cuban drama film, directed by Kaveh Nabatian and released in 2020. ^[1]

The film stars Yonah Acosta as Leonardo, a ballet dancer in Cuba who feels stifled and in need of emigration to another country to advance his career. He and his girlfriend Sara (Evelyn O’Farrill) devise a plan for the duo to get out of Cuba by having Leonardo seduce Nasim (Aki Yaghoubi), a tourist from Montreal, so that she will take him back to Canada with her and then he can send for Sara once he's settled in; however, both Leonardo and Sara are secretly also looking for ways to break off their relationship. ^[2]

The film premiered at the 2020 Festival du nouveau cinéma, ^[3] before going into commercial release in September 2021. ^[4]

Sin la Habana received positive reviews from film critics. It holds a 91% rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes ^[5] and was a New York Times Critic's Pick. ^[6]

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
2020	Festival du nouveau cinéma	Prix de la diffusion Quebecor	Kaveh Nabatian	Won	[7]
2021	Vancouver International Film Festival	Best Canadian Film		Won	[8]
	Directors Guild of Canada	DGC Discovery Award		Nominated	[9]
	Les Percéides	Grand Prix du Jury		Won	[10]
	Miami International Film Festival	Jordan Ressler First Feature Award		Nominated	[11]
	Reelworld Film Festival	Standout Director		Won	[12]
		Standout Writer	Kaveh Nabatian and Pablo Herrera	Won
		Standout Cinematographer	Juan Pablo Ramírez	Won
		Standout Actor	Yonah Acosta	Won
		Standout Actress	Aki Yaghoubi	Won
2022	10th Canadian Screen Awards	Best Original Screenplay	Kaveh Nabatian	Nominated	[13]
		John Dunning Best First Feature Award	Kaveh Nabatian	Nominated
	24th Quebec Cinema Awards	Best Film	Ménaïc Raoul, Gabrielle Tougas-Fréchette	Nominated
		Best Director	Kaveh Nabatian	Nominated
		Revelation of the Year	Yonah Acosta	Nominated
		Best Screenplay	Kaveh Nabatian	Nominated
		Best Editing	Sophie Leblond	Nominated
		Best Sound	Sylvain Bellemare, Laurent Ouellette, Hans Laitres	Nominated
		Best First Film	Kaveh Nabatian	Won	[14]
	Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma	Prix Gilles-Carle	Kaveh Nabatian	Won	[15]

References

1. "Four films streaming till Oct. 31 as part of Festival du Nouveau Cinéma". Cult MTL , October 22, 2020.
2. Lorry Kikta, "Sin la Habana". Film Threat , March 8, 2021.
3. T'cha Dunlevy, "49th Festival du nouveau cinéma screens the best films from a strange year". Montreal Gazette , October 1, 2020.
4. André Duchesne, "Kaveh Nabatian : nous sommes tous des humains". La Presse , September 7, 2021.
5. "SIN LA HABANA". rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
6. Claire Shaffer, . New York Times
7. Amélie Revert, "«Atlantis», «Sin La Habana» et «Judy vs Capitalism» au palmarès du FNC". Métro , October 19, 2020.
8. Steve Newton, "Vancouver International Film Fest announces award winners". The Georgia Straight , October 13, 2021.
9. "TV & Film News – DGC reveals Discovery Award long list of emerging directors to watch". Broadcast Dialogue, September 23, 2021.
10. André Duchesne, "Sin La Habana couronné aux Percéides". La Presse , September 27, 2021.
11. "Miami Film Festival Announces 2021 Lineup With a Strong Latin American Selection". cinematropical.com. 4 February 2021. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
12. Richard Burnett, "Onscreen or onstage, fine arts grad Kaveh Nabatian entertains". Concordia News , November 24, 2021.
13. Brent Furdyk, "2022 Canadian Screen Award Nominees Announced, ‘Sort Of’ & ‘Scarborough’ Lead The Pack". ET Canada , February 15, 2022.
14. François Lévesque, "Hélène Florent aux oiseaux au Gala Québec Cinéma". Le Devoir , June 5, 2022.
15. "Les lauréats et lauréates des prix RVQC 2022".

External links

• Without Havana at IMDb