Without Havana

Last updated
Sin La Habana
Directed by Kaveh Nabatian
Written byKaveh Nabatian
Produced by Gabrielle Tougas-Fréchette
Ménaïc Raoul
Starring Yonah Acosta
Evelyn O’Farrill
Aki Yaghoubi
CinematographyJuan Pablo Ramírez
Edited by Sophie Leblond
Music byKaveh Nabatian
Production
company
Voyelles Films
Distributed byMaison 4:3
Release date
  • October 7, 2020 (2020-10-07)(FNC)
Running time
94 minutes
CountriesCanada, Cuba
LanguagesSpanish
English
Persian

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

Contents

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

YearAwardCategoryRecipient(s)ResultRef.
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 AwardNominated [9]
Les Percéides Grand Prix du JuryWon [10]
Miami International Film Festival Jordan Ressler First Feature AwardNominated [11]
Reelworld Film Festival Standout DirectorWon [12]
Standout WriterKaveh Nabatian and Pablo HerreraWon
Standout CinematographerJuan Pablo RamírezWon
Standout Actor Yonah Acosta Won
Standout ActressAki YaghoubiWon
2022 10th Canadian Screen Awards Best Original Screenplay Kaveh NabatianNominated [13]
John Dunning Best First Feature Award Kaveh NabatianNominated
24th Quebec Cinema Awards Best Film Ménaïc Raoul, Gabrielle Tougas-Fréchette Nominated
Best Director Kaveh NabatianNominated
Revelation of the Year Yonah AcostaNominated
Best Screenplay Kaveh NabatianNominated
Best Editing Sophie Leblond Nominated
Best Sound Sylvain Bellemare, Laurent Ouellette, Hans LaitresNominated
Best First Film Kaveh NabatianWon [14]
Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma Prix Gilles-CarleKaveh NabatianWon [15]

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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. 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. https://rendez-vous.quebeccinema.ca/la-une/les-laureats-et-laureates-des-prix-rvqc-2022#:~:text=Le%20jury%20du%20Prix%20Gilles,par%20Bell%20et%20Qu%C3%A9bec%20Cin%C3%A9ma. [ bare URL ]