Movie Makers in Cuba

Several film and photography students from Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City recently went to Cuba as part of an educational people-to-people tour. Our member Krystn Madrine was one of those students.

Each day the group filmed their activities and each night a different member of the team edited the collaborative footage into a short film that was sent back to Channel 7/4. The station showed the films, but without sound, given some concerns about licensing. The films linked here have sound, and most of it is live music recorded during the day that the film was made.

Krystn states:

“Filming in the field was great experience for all of us. We had more cameras than people, so this trip was very well documented. There were 13 of us from Traverse City, most of us students and faculty from NMC, with one community member. We had an American tour guide, a Cuban tour guide, and a bus driver. We had itineraries each day that we had to follow, but also had free time to just experience Cuba on our own. We stayed at a hotel in Havana, but traveled on three occasions to areas outside the city, including Vinales, a lovely mountain town, very well known to tourists.

We studied the art of Cuba, visited two different schools, including one circus school on the day of their students’ testing, and went to both the national cigar factory and to a tobacco farm. We ate at many paladars, and even got to see the famous Buena Vista Social Club perform in Old Havana.

We initially had some significant challenges with equipment, electricity and the internet but we were able to learn our way around each issue. Each day we would compile our footage and the assigned editor would create a short to frame the day’s adventures. This gives each short film a very unique flavor, while capturing the beauty of Cuba and the amazing experiences of the entire group.”