The Strawberry Tree

Filmmaker Simone Rapisarda Casanova visited Juan Antonio, one of the last Cuban fishing villages, just weeks before a hurricane swept it off the face of the earth. He filmed everyday life in this remote hamlet during the preparations for Children's Day and for the fishing expedition that will follow. The filmmaker explores the boundaries between ethnography, documentary and reverie in a cinematic poem on the last days of the village, which also happens to be where Columbus first dropped anchor in 1492. The customs of the native Taino population have since merged with those of the Spanish colonizers. The inhabitants show great inventiveness and resilience: milking the goats, grinding coffee with a mortar and pestle, repairing the fishing nets and reinforcing their roofs, unaware of the impending fatal hurricane. The playful and natural relationship between the villagers and the filmmaker is a prominent feature of the documentary. Members of the fishermen's families often respond to the presence of the filmmaker on camera, making The Strawberry Tree a reflection on the documentary genre. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)