Diario de Cuba (DDC) writes about Al oeste, en Zapata (Cuba, Spain; 2025), a new documentary film by David Beltrán i Mari on a Cuban family that survives by poaching crocodiles in the Ciénaga de Zapata [Zapata Swamp]. The MIFF describes the film as “Existential and minimalist: a documentary about a rough life.”
The feature-length documentary “Al oeste, en Zapata” [To the West, in Zapata], by Spanish filmmaker David Beltrán i Mari (Bim), filmed in the remote surroundings of the swamp of the same name, located south of Matanzas, won one of the main awards in the competition at the 42nd Munich International Film Festival, Germany.
The production won the CineVisión Award for Best International Film by an Emerging Director, awarded by a jury composed of producer Viola Fügen, screenwriter Moritz Binder, and writer-director Leo Leigh.
Bim won among the 14 directors competing in that category. The award, which is sponsored by Adobe starting this year, comes with a prize of €10,000.
The synopsis for the 75-minute film, produced in 2025, reads: “Landi and Mercedes live in Cuba’s Zapata Swamp, a biosphere reserve. To feed his sick son, Landi must secretly hunt crocodiles, leaving his wife and son behind for days at a time. Amidst social unrest and a global pandemic, the film follows this loving family as they do their best to survive, in a constant cycle of reunion and separation.” [. . .]
Excerpts translated by Ivette Romero. For full, original article (in Spanish), see https://diariodecuba.com/cultura/1751753728_61881.html
Also see https://www.filmfest-muenchen.de/en/program/films/film/?id=8007&f=120
For more on the director, see https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10245249/ and https://www.retinalatina.org/personajes/david-beltran-i-mari/