‘Juan of the Dead’, Cuba’s first Zombie film
The plot goes something like this:
Natch!Blood-spattered, flesh-eating monsters have been roaming the Cuban capital, Havana, in recent months - all part of filming for the country’s first zombie movie.
Bearing a similar title to Britain’s 2004 comedy horror Shaun Of The Dead, Juan Of The Dead’s plot is actually closer to the 1984 ghoul classic Ghostbusters.
In the film, an entire city is overrun by zombies while Cuba’s Communist leaders insist it is just a plot by US-backed dissidents to bring down the government.
In the early days of the Revolución, Casto believed that political and cultural change should happen simultaneously and to that end, created the “Cuban Film Institute.” (CFI) One could shoot a film in Cuba, however, the script had to be approved by the CFI. Mighty nice of them, don’t you think?
Actually, the article mentions a couple recognized, art-house films that made it out of Cuba and touts them as successes. Forgive me for holding my applause, but I’m guessing that “Death Of A Bureaucrat” and “Memories Of Underdevelopment” are anti-American, anti-Capitalist and/or pro-Communism. Don’t ask me how I come up with these things.
At any rate, today, the Cuban government doesn’t have the funds to continue sponsoring the CFI so funding for future films has to come from outside sources. “Juan of the Dead” is being funded by a Spanish company, although the film still must be approved by Castro’s government.
There’s a video at the bottom of the link.