LA TUMBA MAMBI

2022 | 28 min | VOSTA

Countries of origin of directors : Cuba, Canada
Countries of production : Cuba, Canada
Country of recording : Cuba

SYNOPSIS :

As a result of the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804), many French settlers travelled to Eastern Cuba with African enslaved people to escape the revolt. The Tumba Francesa Societies, which were known as a brotherhood and a mutual aid network, emerged from these waves of slave migrations. Eventually, they became integral constituents of Cuban culture. La Tumba Mambi is a docu-fiction film based on the Tumba Francesa, La Caridad de Oriente, which is located in the city of Santiago de Cuba. Through the Society’s youngest member, Flavio, who is collecting information about the Tumba Francesa for a school project, we meet his grand-mother Andrea and mother Queli, two charismatic knowledge keepers of their rich cultural traditions. The original film soundtrack composed and produced by Cuban based DJ Jigüe, in collaboration with Tumba Francesa members, is a rhythmic and striking reminder that the present is grounded in a history of struggles for freedom.

Selected for the Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI) Film Festival, Bristol (UK), where it was in competition for the Ethnomusicology Film Award and the SAPIENS Audience Film Award.

DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHIES : 

DJ Jigüe

Sent from an alternate future to connect different dimensions, DJ Jigüe combines ancestral rhythms with the live presence of Afro-Cuban drums, Afro-futuristic and electronic waves. DJ Jigüe is the creator behind Guámpara Music, the first independent urban music label in Cuba, which allowed him to experiment with new sounds. He has produced several albums, including Havana Cultura and Súbelo Cuba produced in conjunction with Gilles Peterson. He is currently one of the most well-known DJs within the electronic scene in Cuba, developing his own aesthetic called Tropical Afrofuturism.

Alexandrine Boudreault-Fournier

Alexandrine is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Victoria, located on the West Coast of Canada, on the territory of the lək̓ʷəŋən, the Songhees, Esquimalt and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples, whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day. She is the author of Aerial Imagination in Cuba: Stories from Above the Rooftop in Cuba (2020).