TRANSIT HAVANA

Once a year, two plastic surgeons from Holland and Belgium fly to Havana to perform surgery on five Cuban transgender persons. The surgeons are invited by Mariela Castro, daughter of the president and head of the new state program for transgender care.

Castro organizes this as a modern completion of the socialist revolution of 1959 because, in her words, it is all about emancipation and self-realization. ‚Homophobia no, socialismo si!‘ is the official slogan. The state helps transgender people with therapy, hormones, surgery and a new identity. Is Cuba changing into a safe haven for trans people?

For more than one year, filmmakers Daniel Abma and Alex Bakker follow the three main characters Odette, Juani and Malú and show how they deal with the reality of being transgender in Cuba. As new heroes of the revolution, they still face religious intolerance, discrimination, sexism, poverty and often a life in prostitution. Meanwhile, they wait for the foreign surgeons to give them what they want most in life. Are their names among the five on this year‘s surgery list?

The documentary features the historic day when presidents Castro and Obama suddenly announce new diplomatic relations, creating great expectations among the main characters. TRANSIT HAVANA – New Heroes of the Cuban Revolution gives us a unique insight into the paradoxes of Cuba, showing a surprising side of an island in transition.

Daniel Abma was born 1978 in the Netherlands and moved to Berlin after finishing his studies in Primary School Education. He worked as a media-literacy teacher before beginning his studies in Film Directing at the Film University Babelsberg in Potsdam (Germany). His feature length documentaries BEYOND WRIEZEN (2012), TRANSIT HAVANA (2016), and AUTOBAHN (2019) were shown at film festivals worldwide and won several audience- and jury awards. Abma focuses on observational, character-based documentaries about social issues.

Director
Daniel Abma

Script
Alex Bakker

Cinematography
Johannes Praus

Editor
Jana Dugnus

Sound
Alexandra Praet

Producer
Iris Lammertsma
Boudewijn Koole
Stefan Kloos

Line Producer
Nazima Mintjes
Veronika Janatková

Music
Alex Simu

Sound Design
Jeroen Goeijers
Alenadra Praet

Graphic
Barbara Pilipp

Production Assistant
Cathrin Goebel

Production
Witfilm
Kloos & Co. Medien

Co-Production
Filmuniversität KONRAD WOLF Babelsberg
RBB/ARTE
BNN-VARA

Commissioning Editor
Sjoerd Van Den Broek (BNN)
Dagmar Mielke (RBB/ARTE)
Jens Stubenrauch (RBB)

Netherlands Film Fund
Filmförderungsanstalt
Deutscher Filmförderfonds
CoBO

Amsterdam LGBT Film Festival 2016
Best Documentary

MIX Copenhagen LGBTQ Film Festival 2016
Lili Award for the Best Documentary

Filmkunsttage Sachsen-Anhalt 2016
Best Feature-Lenght Film

Cinedoc Tbilisi 2016
Audience Award

Verzio Human Rights Film Festival Budapest 2016
Best Human Rights Film

Image+Nation LGBT Film Festival Montreal 2016
Audience Award

Human Rights Filmfestival Valencia 2017
Special Mention

Wpath.org Transgender Film Festival 2020, online
Audience Award & Jury Award

World Premiere
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2016, Czech Republic

Further Festivals (Selection)
International Film Festival Havana 2016, Cuba
East End Film Festival 2016, UK
Filmfestival Cottbus 2016, Germany
International Film Festival Bergen 2016, Norway
Queer Film Festival Oldenburg 2016, Germany
Belgrade Queer Film Festival 2016, Serbia
Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival 2017, Ukraine
Millenium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival 2017, Poland

Buy DVD here: www.riseandshine-shop.de/produkt/transit-havanna
Watch online here: www.vimeo.com/ondemand/transithavanaenglish