Viva — Trailer

source: magpictures.com, youtube.com

added: Wed, Jan 6th '16

If movies are meant to take audiences to places they have never been before. Well, Irish director Paddy Breathnach (Shrooms, Blow Dry) and Irish screenwriter Mark O'Halloran (Garage, Adam & Paul) are indeed taking moviegoers to a foreign place where some may not have known existed.

For the Cuba-set dramedy "Viva," which is set to screen later this month at the Sundance Film Festival, director Breathnach and writer O'Halloran ambitiously explore Havana's underground drag community, specifically the Cuban city's LBGT nightclub scene.

The Spanish-language film -- which made its world premiere at Telluride last year, where it received good notices -- follows a young Cuban hairdresser (newcomer Hector Medina) who has decided to chase his dream of becoming a drag queen performer in Havana, only to be threatened by his strict and disapproving father (played by veteran Cuban actor Jorge Perugorria).

"Viva," which recently made the Oscar shortlist for Best Foreign Language film, will be released in select U.S. theaters on February 5th. Watch the film's U.S. trailer, above.

synopsis:
VIVA stars Hector Medina as Jesus, a young hairdresser working at a Havana nightclub that showcases drag performers, who dreams of being a performer himself. Encouraged by his mentor, Mama (Luis Alberto Garcia), Jesus finally gets his chance to take the stage. But when his estranged father Angel (Jorge Perugorria) abruptly reenters his life, his world is quickly turned upside down. As father and son clash over their opposing expectations of each other, VIVA becomes a love story as the men struggle to understand one another and reconcile as a family.

directed by Paddy Breathnach

starring Hector Medina, Jorge Perugorria, Luis Alberto Garcia, Luis Manuel Alvarez, Renata (Maikel Machin Blanco), Laura Aleman

release date February 5, 2016 (in select U.S. theaters)