Shanghai Film Festival: Havana Divas Passes on Chinese Heritage in Cuba
Li Gang
DATE:  Jun 28 2018
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Shanghai Film Festival: Havana Divas Passes on Chinese Heritage in Cuba Shanghai Film Festival: Havana Divas Passes on Chinese Heritage in Cuba

(Yicai Global) June 28 -- Louisa Wei, an associate professor at the City University of Hong Kong, met with two Chinese opera enthusiasts from Cuba in 2011, which turned out to be a start for their joint film production, now watchable at the Shanghai International Film Festival.

The documentary film called Havana Divas tells a story about Caridad Amaran and Georgina Wong who learned the art of Cantonese opera in 1930s Havana. The documentary is a reminder to young audiences to carry out the mission of passing on cultural heritage, said the film's director Wei at the festival.

The story starts with the Chinese immigration movement which began in the mid-1800s. A cargo ship carried 206 Chinese workers from China's southern provinces of Fujian and Guangdong and after their 8-year contract in the island nation, many stayed to inhabit its emergent Chinatown. By 1874, the number of Chinese in Cuba reached 140,000, making up one-tenth of the local population at the time.

When Amaran was eight years old, her Chinese stepfather brought her to his own troupe to study Cantonese opera. This is where she met with Wong and the two became friends united by their passion for the art.

However, the two performers' stage dreams were interrupted by Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution which militarized the country.

More than 50 years later, Amaran and Wong are back to show business, brushing off their skills under the camera which pans over their unique art shaped by family histories and cultural influences.

Editor: Emmi Laine 

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Keywords:   Havana Divas,Chinese Cubans,Immigration,Shanghai International Film Festival,Documentary,Louisa Wei,Film