Cuba will count as having the most beautiful academy of arts in the world.

– Fidel Castro (1961)

An award-winning documentary about Cuba's ambitious National Art Schools project, designed by three young artists in the wake of Castro's Revolution, is neglected, nearly forgotten, then ultimately rediscovered as a visionary architectural masterpiece.

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ABOUT THE FILM

In 1961, three young, visionary architects were commissioned by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara to create Cuba's National Art Schools on the grounds of a former golf course in Havana, Cuba. Construction of their radical designs began immediately and the school's first classes soon followed. Dancers, musicians and artists from all over the country reveled in the beauty of the schools, but as the dream of the Revolution quickly became a reality, construction was abruptly halted and the architects and their designs were deemed irrelevant in the prevailing political climate. Forty years later the schools are in use, but remain unfinished and decaying. Castro has invited the exiled architects back to finish their unrealized dream.

Unfinished Spaces features never-before-seen footage of Fidel Castro, showing his devotion to creating a worldwide showcase for art, and it also documents the struggle and passion of three revolutionary artists.

“A witty survey (and dismantling) of Cuban politics..”

FILM TEAM

A Film by ALYSA NAHMIAS & BENJAMIN MURRAY

FEATURING — Ricardo Porro, Vittorio Garatti, & Roberto Gottardi

Kristen Nutile, Alex Minnick — Editors
Giancarlo Vulcano — Composer
Meg Reticker — Story Consultant
Elise Jaffe + Jeffrey Brown — Executive Producers
Luis Ortiz & Sandie Viquez Pedlow — Executive Producers, Latino Public Broadcasting


Made with support from:
Latino Public Broadcasting
The Jerome Foundation
New York State Council on the Arts
The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts
The Farber Foundation
LEF Foundation
Reed Foundation
AIA New York Arnold W. Brunner Grant
The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation
The Alan & Linda Cohen Family Foundation
The Gotham (IFP)
Fiscal Sponsorship: Women Make Movies

GRANTS & AWARDS

2012 Independent Spirit Award Winner

2014 Society of Architectural Historians Film & Video Award Winner

Jury Prize, San Diego Latino Film Fest

Jury Prize, Salem Film Fest

Jury Prize, Montreal FIFA Festival

Jury Prize, Valladolid Int'l Film Festival

Jury Hon. Mention, Miami Int'l Film Fest

PRESS & REVIEWS

The Hollywood Reporter

“Lucidly filmed... a stirring study... an absorbing film”

Dwell

“One of the most engrossing architecture documentaries...”

Variety

“Elegantly traces the brief heyday and dark period of Cuba's Art Schools”

Festival Channel Video Interview with Nahmias, Murray, Porro, and Gottardi