Dreaming of Afro-Cuba
Roberto Dominich plays a handmade cajon to the beat of his Afro-Cuban roots in Washington, D.C. 's Malcolm X Park in early February 2021. Photo courtesy of Josee Molavi
For a proud community of Cuban artists and musicians in Washington, D.C., the COVID-19 pandemic was a gut punch. A once-thriving scene of live performances and raucous jam sessions is silent. For palabra., filmmaker Josee Molavi documented the artists’ dilemma and captured their resilience
Editor's Note: Listen to a radio production of this story, by Marisa Arbona-Ruiz, on Alt.Latino, National Public Radio’s show for Latino music and culture.
By day, Josee Molavi is a busy Washington, D.C. activist for immigrants’ rights.
However, when she’s off the clock, she turns to her passions: singing and writing songs, and making documentary films.
Vocation and avocations collided when Molavi met the immigrant Cuban artist Lázaro Batista, whose talent had begun to resonate in the region just before the coronavirus pandemic silenced the live arts scene. Batista is part of a vibrant community of Cuban artists and musicians in Washington, D.C. who meet weekly and jam, or show up to support each other’s paid, live performances.
That was all enough motivation for Molavi to embark on a documentary project, “Soñando Con Afrocuba” -- Dreaming of Afro-Cuba -- produced with support from palabra. and screening here.
“Soñando Con Afrocuba”
Lázaro Batista’s artwork is central to Josee Molavi’s film on Afro-Cuban performers in Washington, D.C., idling amid the pandemic. Photo courtesy of Josee Molavi
The film is a visual exploration of Cuban creatives. But it also addresses a void in their lives as the pandemic lingers, keeping them from what they love: engaging with audiences in live performances, music classes and art shows.
Just getting started
Molavi is a recent graduate of American University’s School of Public Affairs (her degree is a mouthful: Communications, Legal Institutions, Economics and Government.) Taking a break from her day job and recording her first album, she tackled a few questions from palabra. about her film project.
palabra: What drove you to pursue this film project, your first after graduation?
Josee Molavi: I started this piece back in January 2020, when I met Lázaro Batista for the first time over coffee. I was immediately enchanted by his unmistakable artistic talent. I was taken by his striking mosaics, colorful cityscapes, and playful portraits that emulate his culture, his island, and his memory.
Lázaro Batista. Photo courtesy of Josee Molavi
His story of persistence is what makes his work all the more stunning. Criminalized for his artistic expression in Cuba, he escaped the island and made it only a few miles before reaching Guantanamo, America’s most infamous military base. It’s profound to me how Lázaro’s crime in Cuba became his path to freedom in the United States. Lázaro is a perfect example of the poetic and unlikely ways that artists, by moving people with their craft, can persevere.
I think this applies to Roberto Dominich as well, who hand-in-hand with Lázaro and the other creatives in the film, use their talents to keep moving forward even in light of something as earth-shattering as a pandemic. Music and art embody the soul of our society and extend that of their creators.
Dominich and Batista drumming in Black Lives Matter Plaza. The Afro-cuban relatives played along to the chants of an immigration rally held on February 23, 2021. Photo courtesy of Josee Molavi
palabra: You're just getting started, but what have been your influences? Who are the key people, artists and professionals who've pushed you in this direction?
Molavi: I started to make films when I was maybe 6 or 7 years old. I was always directing my brother, using my parent’s cameras, and taking my findings back to the family computer to splice it all together. I’d make my whole family sit and screen my "films” and a few of them made their way to Youtube over the years. It became ritualistic for me as I grew older.
Josee Molavi
I was never a filmmaker until I realized I always had been. I’ve always been known to ask a million questions, so journalistic filmmaking was a natural fit. When I got to college I felt called to take a filmmaking course with (American University) Professor Bill Gentile, a renowned journalist and world-class documentarian.
The thing about working with Bill is that he doesn’t care what your background is, as long as you’re good at what you do, take pride in it, and work as hard as you can. He pushed me to believe in myself in a classroom full of graduate school filmmakers. I felt empowered after making my first “real” short film under his guidance, a piece about the daily strife of immigrant day-laborers. I knew I couldn’t stop there, and began to pursue “Soñando Con Afro-Cuba” as a class assignment-turned-passion project. Of course, I made my whole family screen it first!
In May 2020, American University and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting named me an International Reporting Fellow. That completely changed the game for me as it opened me up to a wide network of mentors, colleagues, and groundbreaking journalism, for which I am ever so grateful.
The Pulitzer Center team has been instrumental in pushing me in all the right directions. For them, I’ll travel this year to Puerto Rico to cover climate change-induced disasters through the lens of indigenous Taíno spirituality. I’m also working as a producer with DC-based media collective La Pax Media on other local stories in the Latino and Afro-Caribbean community.
My filmmaking has always been bilingual, intersectional and inspired by the people I meet. Most of all, it is as fulfilling a craft as one could ever be, because I get to creatively connect with people about their passions, fears, and dreams.
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Ricardo Sandoval-Palos is the managing editor of palabra.