THE STRAWBERRY TREE 
El árbol de las fresas
Canada/Cuba, 2011
Spanish with English subtitles | 70 min
Director/Writer/Producer/Cinematographer/Editor: Simone Rapisarda Casanova

Tuesday, Aug 29
6:30 PM | Goldcorp Centre for the Arts | SFU Woodward’s

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The screenings will be followed by a discussion with Simone Rapisarda Casanova and Noé Rodríguez.

Filmed in the remote fishing village of Juan Antonio, Cuba just weeks before a hurricane swept the site off the face of the earth, El árbol de las fresas is a mesmerizing cinematic poem that tests the boundaries between anthropology, documentary, and reverie. The villagers’ ingeniousness and resilience, as well as their playful and irreverent relationship with the filmmaker, transform a sensitive portrait of the unique Taíno-Spanish culture into a reflection on documentary filmmaking itself and on humanity at the edge of time. 

“Finally, when this hamlet vanishes…there is an intractable absence left, a lingering reminder of life in all its glorious and homely wonder.” Justin Mah, DOXA

Filmada en el remoto pueblo pesquero de Juan Antonio, en Cuba, solo antes de que desapareciera por un huracán, El árbol de las fresas, es una hermoso poema cinematográfico que testifica los límites entre la antropología y el documental. El ingenio de los habitantes del pueblo, así como sus relaciones divertidas e irreverentes con el realizador, dan un retrato sensible dentro de esta cultura única, y una reflexión acerca del documental y sobre la humanidad en este tiempo.

Simone Rapisarda Casanova (Catania, Italy, 1970) is a film professor at SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts in Vancouver. His first feature documentary, El árbol de las fresas (2011), screened at IDFA in Amsterdam and won the NFB Colin Low Award for Most Innovative Canadian Documentary at the 2012 DOXA Film Festival.

Preceded by:

CEIBA 
Canada/Cuba/Spain, 2016
Spanish with English subtitles | 28 min
Director/Writer/Producer/Cinematographer/Editor: Noé Rodríguez

“Lightning respects the ceiba tree… and no one else.” Caribbean proverb

“El rayo respeta a la ceiba… y a más nadie.” Proverbio caribeño

Noé Rodríguez (Madrid, 1977) is a film lecturer at SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts in Vancouver. Originally from Spain, in 2006 he received the Caixa Canada Scholarship to pursue his graduate studies at York University in Toronto, where he became actively involved with LIFT and the experimental film community.

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