This second showcase of Cuban contemporary short films privileges first-person explorations of cultural alterity and deterritorialization. Ángela follows a Cuban immigrant in New York City, while Petricor uses plants to symbolize uprootedness and nostalgia. Souvenir critiques the Western touristic gaze that romanticizes Cuba’s past while ignoring its present. In Parole, a mother’s WhatsApp messages connect her with her exiled son in San Francisco, highlighting migrant burdens. Finally, History Is Written at Night depicts a dystopian Cuba during a blackout, haunted by the imagination of another mother. Through their formal heterogeneity, the films all offer nuanced perspectives on diaspora, exile, and nation building amidst Cuba’s ongoing historical exodus. 

—Lázaro González