Kurt Hartel

DOCUMENTARY: 'MUSICA CUBANA - A STORY TO BE TOLD' (Cuba/Germany; 90min) Cuba is a country plenteous of diverse styles of music, which you'll encounter everywhere in everyday life. Especially Havana is like a pan bubbling with musical and rhythmical creativity. The enormous musical diversity there is due to both tradition and topicality and cannot be reflected in categories that are used in the western world. THE STORY BEHIND The historical and current development of Cuban music is unrivaled. Beach, sun, salsa, vintage cars and Buena Vista Social Club - that's the cliche that comes to everybody's mind when Cuba is mentioned. But doesn't do it justice - as it doesn't do Germany justice to reduce its culture to sauerkraut and Oktoberfest. Havana has just over 2 million inhabitants but produces as many musicians of international standing as a whole continent. Cuba is more than Buena Social Club and Salsa. So much more than just sun and beach. Music runs in the blood of the Cuban people - the musical diversion of the island is unique. It's a melting pot of the most different musical influences, nurtured by its own history, tradition and the very quick synthesis with daily impacts. A melting pot bubbling with musical and rhythmical creativity. In our documentary Cuban musicians tell about their music, their understanding of music and their thoughts on that topic. In doing so they provide the audience with their subjective point of view, devoid of school masterly categorizations. With our film we aim to enthuse interested individuals just as officials and sponsors. The movie was filmed by a Cuban and German camera crew and can be screened in Cuban Spanish with a German voice over or English subtitles. It was financed 100% independently by LAUTRAZfilm without any funding or sponsoring. All rights of the movie are exclusively by DHC Dr. Hartel GmbH. DIRECTOR'S BIOGRAPHY: Kurt Hartel, born 1946 in Nuremberg and now living in the hinterlands of Munich, worked for years as a physicist in research and teaching. 2012 the semi-professional jazz musician set out to bring "Musica Cubana - a story to be told" into existence, the project he had taken to his heart. He founded LAUTRAZfilm in 2017 and the post production of the movie was finished early 2019.