Llamadas desde Moscú

The apartment is so high up that the noise of the city below barely penetrates, the sound of the traffic and the passing trains merges with the wind and the ventilation system, a constant background hum. It only recedes when the four young Cubans speak, although they’re never seen together, they just talk to their phones and their phones respond, conversations with loved ones, sales consultations, advice services for immigrants, chats with the director, news reports, lip-synced pop renditions, calls not always picked up. They can be as fabulous as they want in the apartment, but the lift that brings them down to the Moscow streets is already a different space, where you stare out in front of you and avoid attracting attention; Russia and Cuba are so very far apart. It’s hard not to feel melancholy when faced with an emptied-out city and endless snow, and this winter is unlike all the others, not just darkness, but war and disease, signs of the times. But hope is still there, waiting at the other end of the line, with calm, with patience, home is many things at once, what else can it be right now? It’s small comfort, but there’s no comfort too small: everything little by little. (James Lattimer)

Production Daniel Sánchez López, Luis Alejandro Yero. Production companies Cosmic Productions (Berlin, Germany), Cuarto Oscuro Cine (Havana, Cuba). Director Luis Alejandro Yero. Screenplay Luis Alejandro Yero. Cinematography María Grazia Goya. Editing Luis Alejandro Yero. Sound design Saulo Adrián, Pablo Cervera, Luis Alejandro Yero. Sound Luis Alejandro Yero. Costumes Chema Díaz. Production manager Daniel Sánchez López. Executive producer Daniel Sánchez López. Co-producer Elisa Pirir. Co-production STÆR. With Eldis Botta, Juan Carlos Calderón, Daryl Acuña, Dariel Díaz, Luis Alejandro Yero.

Luis Alejandro Yero, born in Sancti Spíritus, Cuba in 1989, he studied documentary directing. His four documentary short films have been screened at more than 100 festivals. LLAMADAS DESDE MOSCÚ is his first feature-length film.

Films: 2014: Natalia Nikolaevna (30 min.). 2017: Años de entrega / Years of Devotion (13 min.). 2018: Apuntes en la orilla / Notes on the Shore (13 min.). El cementerio se alumbra / The Cemetery Lightens (15 min.). 2019: Los viejos heraldos / The Olden Heralds (23 min.). 2023: Llamadas desde Moscú / Calls from Moscow.

Bonus Material