¡Quba!

Bluesky

This sprightly documentary from Kim Anno considers the LGBTQ+ community’s fight for equality in Cuba in the run-up to the historic 2022 referendum on same-sex marriage. Where some documentaries might place the emphasis on the difficulties that have been faced down the decades, Anno, while acknowledging the history through the use of archive and via her interviewees, firmly accentuates the positives and the strides that have been made. As one contributor notes: “Why remember the past, it was terrible?” Anno tacitly draws on the Cuban idea of “revolutionaries” – highlighting, for example, posters and statues of Che Guevarra – to suggest that the LGBTQ+ activists have picked up the mantle.

One of the community’s greatest success stories has to be that of transgender city councillor Adela Hernandez. Jailed for four years in the Eighties after being branded “a danger to society” because of her gender identity, her rise to public office is a concrete demonstration both of her own charisma and a shift in attitude of the general populace. The importance of visibility is a theme that runs through Anno’s documentary, as Ramón Silverio who runs welcoming cultural space El Mejunje, notes that they take plays about diversity on tour to rural areas as a way of reaching out.

Anno takes an admirably diverse approach to this subject, also featuring a lesbian couple who are hopeful a change in the law can help them to start a family. She also speaks to a couple of church leaders who stand on the opposite side of the argument, although more from the members of the churches would have helped with the balance since the documentary is, in places, at risk of suggesting that progress has been a bit of a breeze, which almost certainly is not the case.

A further political element is added by the inclusion of Mariela Castro, Fidel Castro’s niece, who has been a tireless activist for LGBTQ+ rights and notes this is something her mother was also keen to espouse, with views that unfortunately proved ahead of her time. Anno’s film wears the politics of all this very lightly, and more would be welcome, but if something is lost in terms of the reportage element of the election run-up, she gains in terms of offering insight from within the activist community. An eclectic Cuban music soundtrack lends bounce and atmosphere.

More interviewees would have helped as moments when Anno simply follows people about don’t add a great deal and a stronger throughline about the run up to the vote would have strengthened the structure, as the film occasionally feels choppy as it dots from subject to subject. Nevertheless, the positivity of the activists and upbeat sweep of Ann’s filmmaking are infectious. In a world that so frequently seems to be rowing back on rights, it’s nice to be reminded that change is not only possible but probable when you work together for it.

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