TYPE: Narrative Short
GENRE: Student Film
STATUS: Pre-Production

LOGLINE

Yaimita begins an online romance with a foreigner hoping to leave Cuba, but everything changes when she learns he isn’t as perfect as he seems.

SYNOPSIS

At 18, Yaimita fulfills her mother’s long-held dream by starting an online romance with Sven, a foreigner twice her age, with the hope of leaving Cuba. But her dreams fall apart when she discovers her mother knows Sven isn’t as idyllic as he seems.

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

For as long as I can remember, having a foreign boyfriend has been considered a lifeline for many Cubans. My childhood was filled with stories of sixty-year-old foreigners who essentially bought themselves beautiful girlfriends with the promise of a better life. Ironically, what sticks with me is how these stories sounded almost like fairy tales to innocent little Ana.

I believe these narratives have profoundly shaped who I am today, especially the kinds of stories I want to tell. They opened the door to a universe where no one is fully guilty or completely innocent, and where the harshness of circumstances can redeem the unredeemable. In every project, I try to explore that bittersweet tone that is so much a part of me—the kind of story that makes us laugh and dream, but leaves us with a lingering sense of unease.

The world I grew up in was also a “neighborhood” world, where gossip reigned supreme. Unconsciously, this gossip has shaped the kind of narrative I’m drawn to. Who tells what to whom? How do you punish the silent? And why do we stay silent about what everyone knows?

It’s an “island” world, where the boundary between the outside and the inside becomes our greatest intellectual barrier, but also our biggest source of illusion. Outside the island, the grass always seems greener, and that dream helps us persevere despite all that we lack.

It’s a film I want to resemble Havana itself. The camera will act as a mere witness to its vibrancy: its sounds, textures, and the sharp contrasts painted by its scorching sun. Decay will be our strongest aesthetic tool, because nothing speaks more powerfully about what Cubans are living through than the crumbling state of our city.

But if there’s something that makes Havana magical, it’s its people, who somehow manage to keep laughing and mocking every obstacle. Their joy is their only form of resilience. That’s why I believe it’s essential to mix professional actors with non-actors, to preserve the city’s essence and make the film feel like life itself.

"Norheimsund" was born out of the urgency to tell an intimate, complex story about the mother-daughter relationship between two women trapped in a cycle of mutual sacrifice. Each carries the weight of the other’s expectations and broken dreams, creating a complicated dynamic where personal sacrifice becomes a currency in their relationship.

This is a story about the hope that keeps us alive, driving us to make the biggest compromises. That’s why I chose as a title the name of a city completely different from ours. Because if there’s one thing that defines Havana, it’s the shared feeling of not wanting to be here.

KEY CREW