Dryland

Dryland is a short-film of about 27 minutes, set in Havana during the year 1993. Mario, a forty-something disenchanted cop, fears for his life. A serial killer is beheading his colleagues and slowly approaching to his area. Ultimately, Mario finds the head of the seventh victim; he and his partner must bring it to the station. What seems like an easy task would become an odyssey… The stealing of the “police organ” will lead them to The Swedish, king of Havana underground and owner of The Casino.

In a neo-noir and black comedy vibe, Dryland presents a freaky and stylized Havana, one that seems extracted from comic books instead of the era’s newspapers. An extreme, disparate city, at once sexy and chaotic, where logic is taken over by absurd dispositions. It’s also an alternative look to one of Cuba’s more traumatic periods (the 1990’s) that abandons the clichés of easy jokes and porno-misery associated with representations of the Special Period.

This short drinks from movies like The Big Lebowski, Pulp Fiction, Chinatown and Inherent Vice, as from the work of great writers like Raymond Chandler, James Ellroy and Jim Thompson.

The cast would be led by Eduardo Martínez, an award winning actor, internationally renowned for his starring role in Santa & Andrés (2016). He would be accompanied by Raúl Capote, Mónica Molinet (both of them from The Swimming Pool), Jorge Molina (Juan of the Dead), Waldo Franco, Pancho García, Amalia Reinoso and Andrea Doimeadiós (On the Roof).

Who are we?

The staff of Dryland includes young students and graduates from Cuban University of the Arts’ Film School (FAMCA, ISA). To some of them, this short would represent their thesis film. Despite their youth, members of the crew have experience from working in short and feature films, documentaries, music videos and publicity.

The director, José Luis Aparicio (1994), has created the shorts The Pillow (2016), Static (2017) and Summertime (2017) and the documentary Dreams adrift (in post-production). His works have integrated the Official Selection of international festivals like Film Miami Fest, Central American Short Film Festival (both of them in the USA), Cuba im Film (Frankfurt, Germany) and the Horror Film Festivals of Valencia and Navarra (Spain).

Cast and Crew

Cast: Eduardo Martínez, Raúl Capote, Mónica Molinet, Jorge Molina, Amalia Reinoso, Pancho García, Waldo Franco, Andrea Doimeadiós

Director: José Luis Aparicio Ferrera

Screenplay: José Luis Aparicio Ferrera & Daniel Delgado Saucedo

Production: Leila Montero Hernández

Director of Photography: Ariel Navarro Pino

Soundtrack Design: Emilio Polo García

Editing: Beatriz Candelaria

Art Direction: Pepe Reyes

Assistant Director: Orlando Mora

How are we going to use your contributions?

Dryland has the support of Cuban independent production company Estudio ST, which consists in technical equipment and set for image post-production. We aim to cover the rest of production expenses with the help of this campaign.

The money gathered through this crowdfunding will be used for:

• Location rental.

• Art and Costume expenses.

• Set of Sound Post-production rental.

Crowdfunding has become one of the few tools in the hands of Cuban young and independent filmmakers to get their projects made. We live in a country with no Film Law, with practically no funds and scarce possibilities of reaching to the outside. Thanks to sites like Verkami we still make films in Cuba, against all odds…

Timeframe

Filming of Dryland is expected for the last days of March of 2018. Image and sound post-production would take place during April, getting the film finished in DCP by May. Then, it would begin to tour film festival and other distribution networks.

Rewards would be sent after May.

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