Juan, the film director, is Ecuadorian, his partner, Francisca, is Cuban. They live in Paris where their two children were born, just like Juan 30 years earlier. By switching back and forward from past to present, between the history of a family across 3 generations and that of a whole continent, the film director considers the issue of political commitment and the heritage left to the next generation in the form of a letter from a father to his children.
The pupils of about fifteen secondary schools in the suburbs of Paris react to the projection of two short films taken from the series "No More Lies ! 12 perspectives on everyday racism". Their comments, questions and reactions are of course focused on the subject of racism, but they also take a stand about what it means to have two cultural identities. Is it enough to be born in France in order to feel French ? What is their vision of a society obsessed with the idea of integration? What do they expect of the future ? With their questions and their protests, they often put their finger on the heart of the issues at stake. Beyond fiction, we discover their reality...
The fifties in Cuba, at the time of the "dias felices", the happy days, the American mobsters were the kings of the country, Hemingway lived there, the Hollywood stars came to hide their secrets, the number of bars and clubs rose amazingly, celebrities came to spend vacation, the business of cigars flourished, gambling was not a vice, everybody was dancing on frenzied music, while rum and cigars were flowing. At the beginning of the fifties, the huge storm that threatened Cuba was unpredictable.
In 2002, Carmen Castillo returned to Chile and did a memory exercise centred on the life of her father Fernando Castillo Velasco, former rector of Universidad Católica de Chile and Premio Nacional de Arquitectura (1983). This film tells the story of this return centred on the desire to get closer to the mystery of the life and work of an enlightened man. It is the time for a memory, not an expeditious biography. Fernando recounts excerpts from his life, his work as an architect, university rector and mayor of La Reina. From the "Fifth", the place of childhood, he remembers with sincerity and simplicity. Like a watchman, like a lighthouse, he illuminates our present, like a compass shows us the way to build a world where affection and social justice prevail.
