Sueña Ahora by Gabriele Licchelli, Francesco Lorusso & Andrea Settembrini | CUB, ITA | 20’

In Cuba, night has fallen. Darkness swallows every crossroads, every house, every human being. Some say the “apagón” (blackout) is here to stay, like everything else on the island. In the night’s gloom, lit only by the glow of portable lamps, life carries on. A priest turns the pages of Genesis. A blind musician sings to his wife a song he wrote for her years ago. A boy challenges his teacher to an endless game of chess. A diver slips into the river with his lantern. Dreams, desires, and visions mingle with the sounds of nature, which, in the silence left by technology, returns stronger than ever. Slowly, reality fades away, giving way to imagination and the unconscious in an intimate, dreamlike experience.

Gabriele Licchelli, Francesco Lorusso & Andrea Settembrini

Gabriele Licchelli (1993), Francesco Lorusso (1993), and Andrea Settembrini (1991) come from a small village in the South of Italy. Together, they directed and produced “Anche gli uomini hanno fame” (2019), premiered at IDFA, and “Go, Friend, Go” premiered at Festival dei Popoli and then selected at several international film festivals (Crossing Europe, Festival Jean Rouch, among others). In 2024, they attended a workshop led by Gianfranco Rosi at EICTV in Cuba, where they developed their new short film, “Sueña Ahora”. Together they founded Broga Doite Film, where they develop and produce documentary and fiction projects.