Return To Ithaca
Filmfest 2015
PT: Retour À Ithaque
OT: RETOUR À ITHAQUE
France 2014
Original version with English subtitles
(Original: Spanish)
German Premiere
Director: Laurent Cantet
Section: Spotlight
At a terrace overlooking Havana, five friends gather to celebrate that one of them has returned home after 16 years of exile. Beginning as a joyous celebration of their mutual friendship, their recollections give them the chance to reassess their lives, experiences and their unrealized dreams. The tension within the group rises as it becomes clear that the one who left longs to return home, while the ones who remained behind wish they could leave Cuba for good.
"I was lucky to be offered the opportunity to direct a short film in the movie 7 DAYS IN HAVANA. It allowed me to meet a Cuban writer whose books I had read in full: Leonardo Padura... I suggested that he thinks about the story of an exile that returns home and visits his group of friends, freely inspired by an extract from one of his books."
Laurent Cantet in an interview with cineuropa.org
Cast: Isabel Santos, Jorge Perugorria, Fernando Hechavarria, Nestor Jimenez, Pedro Julio Diaz Ferran
Credits
Screenplay: Leonardo Padura, Laurent Cantet
Director of Photography: Diego Dussuel
Film Editor: Robin Campillo
Composer: Martin Caraux
Production Designer: Rémi Bergman
Sound: Olivier Mauvezin
Producer: Didar Domehri, Gaël Nouaille, Laurent Baudens
Production Company: Full House
Co-Production Company: Orange Studio, Haut et Court Distribution, Funny Balloons, Panache Productions, La CompagnieCinématographique
World Sales: Funny Balloons
Director: Laurent Cantet