Dir. Miguel Coyula | Cuba, 2024
Spanish with English subtitles | 77 min | Narrative
”Had Kafka been Cuban, he would have been a non-fiction writer.” Virgilio Piñeiro
In Cuba, artistic legitimacy and subsistence require official recognition by a state-sponsored art institution. Working independently means having scant income and limited rights, and, as filmmaker Miguel Coyula and actor Lynn Cruz learned while making their dystopian feature Corazón azul in 2011, being subjected to various forms of control and intimidation. Meanwhile, outside of Cuba, anti-regime critics prove similarly dogmatic and silencing. A defiant and entertaining work that strains against extreme limitations, Chronicles of the Absurd playfully uses headshots and avatars to visualize audio recordings (often recorded clandestinely) and verbatim text documenting years of Kafkaesque impositions, threats, and vital dissident art.
Winner. Best Film. Envision Competition. IDFA -Amsterdam Documentary FF- 2024
Winner. Special Jury Award. Avant-garde and Genre Competition. BAFICI -Buenos Aires FF- 2025
