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

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Keywords
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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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