The Eternal Night portrays the journey of three Cuban young men who faced condemnation for their beliefs and creative expressions, highlighting the remarkable ability of imagination to transcend challenging circumstances.
This film draws inspiration from the true story of Néstor Díaz de Villegas, a Cuban writer and former political prisoner. In 1974, Díaz de Villegas, at the age of eighteen, received a six-year prison sentence merely for composing a poem. Prior to his imprisonment, he had already faced censorship multiple times due to his nonconformist attitudes, which were deemed "ideologically divergent" by the revolutionary government. This term, coined by Raúl Castro in the early 1970s, served as a legal and moral classification that criminalized dissent. It encompassed Cuban citizens deemed too intellectual, young individuals displaying an interest in American popular culture and music, presumed members of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as religious individuals whose faith hindered their compliance with political obedience.
The story revolves around a recently arrived poet in the prison, a young man of Evangelical faith from the countryside, and an older actor who was accused of plotting to assassinate Fidel Castro. The actor introduces them to the intricate social dynamics within the prison, teaching them how to resist the authorities' attempts to re-educate them. In order to bring life to the prisoners' evenings, he persuades the prison warden to embrace the idea of screening films as a more effective method of instilling socialist principles, thereby establishing a cinema within the confines of the prison
The Eternal Night will premiere at the Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present from 7 February to 11 June 2023.
Cast
Luis Manuel Álvarez
Enmanuel Galbán
Joel Lara
Director Coco Fusco
Producers Coco Fusco and David Leitner
Director of Photography David Leitner
Screenplay Enrique Del Risco
Editor Jessie Stead
Sound Design Roberto Fernandez and Harbor Sound
Music Roberto Poveda, Lars Haake and Layton Weedeman
Animation Melissa Brown and Brian Luna
Colour David Leitner
Subtitles María Cruz Alarcón
Based on testimony by Néstor Díaz de Villegas
Commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation
Co-Commissioned by The Wapping Project
Additional Support Latinx Artist Fellowship and Anonymous Was a Woman