The Abattoir
(El matadero)
Fernando Fraguela Fosado | Documentary
2021 | 54 minutes | Cuba
Two young men in a Cuban housing project chase dreams of escape through disillusionment, pig-raising, and filmmaking amid systemic stagnation.
Synopsis
The Abattoir is a raw and intimate portrait of life in the margins of contemporary Cuba. Set in a crumbling state-built housing project, the film follows two young men—Daniel, a pig farmer, and Fernando, an aspiring filmmaker—who dream of escaping both their neighborhood and the country. Though their paths differ, they are united by a sense of frustration, disillusionment, and unrealized potential.
Through a hybrid of documentary realism and narrative storytelling, director Fernando Fraguela Fosado explores the emotional and existential toll of entrapment in a decaying system. As Daniel tends to pigs amid daily struggles and Fernando turns his camera on the bleak surroundings, their parallel stories reveal a Cuba rarely seen—one defined not by revolution or resilience, but by stagnation, isolation, and the quiet yearning for freedom.
The Abattoir is a powerful meditation on youth, inertia, and the haunting realization that escape may be as elusive as hope itself.
Reviews
“A rabid and untamed film, not suitable for sensitive spirits or animalists, which turns the personal testimony (and, therefore, exposed to be refuted) into an amendment to the totality of Castroism.” – Enric Albero, El Español
“The biography of a Cuban minotaur who lived most of his life in an infinite labyrinth of buildings.” – Antonio Enrique González Rojas, Hypermedia Magazine
“Fernando Fraguela, who, from material very close to his experiences in a neighborhood in the Cuban city of Pinar del Río, delivers a medium-length film that is as raw and personal as it is allegorical.” – Rialta
“A film that achieves a personal narrative of contemporary Cubanness across a digital diaspora both in the making of, the plot, and its subsequent distribution trajectory.” – Michelle Leigh Farrell, Transmodernity. Fall Issue, 2023
Citation
Coming soon.
Cataloging
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Pragda subjects
Anthropology
Caribbean Studies
Exile
Family
Fascism + Repression
Human Rights
Migration Studies
Sociology
Urban Studies
Keywords
Clips
Festivals
Málaga Film Festival - Best Documentary; Sacramento Underground Film Festival - Best Documentary; Courage Film Festival - Best Documentary; Madrid – FICMAD Madrid International Independent Film Festival - Best Script Documentary
DIRECTOR: Fernando Fraguela Fosado
NATIONALITY: Cuba
YEAR: 2021
GENRE: Documentary
LANGUAGE: Spanish
COLOR / B&W: Color
GRADE LEVEL: College, Adult
SUBTITLE/CC: AVAILABLE
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: NOT AVAILABLE
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