Dreams Adrift

(Sueños al pairo)
Fernando Fraguela Fosado, José Luis Aparicio Ferrera | Documentary

2018 | 32 minutes | Cuba

The story of Mike Porcel, a visionary Cuban musician silenced and exiled as dissident — his voice rediscovered through this powerful documentary.

Synopsis

Dreams Adrift is a politically charged documentary that rescues the silenced legacy of Cuban musician and composer Mike Porcel. One of the most innovative voices of the Cuban Nueva Trova movement in the 1960s and ’70s, Porcel was blacklisted and censored after attempting to emigrate during the 1980 Mariel boatlift.

Outside of Cuba, Porcel pursued an intense artistic career, first in Spain and later in the United States, composing for theater, film, and television. However, nearly 40 years after the Mariel events, Porcel’s work and legacy remain silenced and ostracized in Cuba, representing a forgotten and erased chapter of the nation's cultural history.

Blending rare archival footage, intimate interviews, and poetic narration, the film retraces Porcel’s musical journey from his early days with the psychedelic rock band Los Dada to his later compositions in exile across Spain and the United States.

Reviews

“’Sueños al pairo’ reviews the biography of singer-songwriter Mike Porcel, one of the fundamental figures of the Cuban Nueva Trova, who, after submitting a request to leave the country during the Mariel exodus in 1980, was repudiated, imprisoned and silenced for eight years.” – Ernesto Hernández Busto, The New York Times en Español

“The censored documentary moves you because its inquiry into the past is also evidence of the moral superiority of the victim over his executioners—and all those who still live in fear of reopening poorly closed wounds.” — Ernesto Hernández Busto, The New York Times

“No images of the event exist; the short film uses animated drawings to visually represent the black hole in Mike Porcel’s life, paired with his voice‑over. The dynamic of the event is subtly chilling, told from any point of view.” — Matilde Sánchez, Clarín

“The end of the film is one of its many achievements in a key moment in Cuban filmmaking. The camera artistically captures a peaceful Porcel… combining archival footage, his music, testimony of fellow musicians… with the contemporary voice and face of Porcel himself.” — Michelle Leigh Farrell, Transmodernity Journal

Citation

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Cataloging

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Keywords
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Clips
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Festivals

International Austral Film Festival – Best Cultural Representation ; BAFICI Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival; Latino & Native American Film Festival; ViVe Latino Film Fest; International Folklore Film Festival; up-and-coming International Film Festival Hannover; Censurados Film Festival; BannabáFest, Panama; MAX Diversity Film Festival; Cine Joven Cubano en el Sur; Echoes of Katyn International Film Festival on Totalitarianisms

DIRECTOR: Fernando Fraguela Fosado, José Luis Aparicio Ferrera

NATIONALITY: Cuba

YEAR: 2018

GENRE: Documentary

LANGUAGE: Spanish

COLOR / B&W: Color

GRADE LEVEL: High School, College, Adult

SUBTITLE/CC: AVAILABLE

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: NOT AVAILABLE

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