World Cinema Amsterdam | Internationaal filmfestival | 18 – 27 Augustus 2016

Luciano Larobina | Mexico | 2009 | 90' | Spanish spoken, English subtitles

Hip hop emerged at the end of the 1960s in the poor, marginalised black and Latino communities in New York. Rebellious music with controversial lyrics, which principally reflected the struggle for civil rights. Socially committed hip hop formed an attractive alternative to the commercial disco music of the time.

Hip hop was also embraced on Cuba around 1995. At the time, Cuba was in a deep economic crisis following the collapse of Cuba’s major sponsor, the Soviet Union. The Cubans added a number of elements of their own to the hip hop mix: rhythms such as the rumba and guaguancó, with lots of percussion instruments and street sounds.

In his documentary Havanyork, director Luciano Larobina – who also wrote the screenplay and took care of the camerawork and production – investigates the relationship between American and Cuban hip hop. He also shows the decline of this musical genre: how hip hop became diluted, over the course of more than thirty years, from a combative musical form to a hollow, commercial and decadent product, characterized by sexism and the glorification of drugs and violence.

With music from the likes of DJ Asho, The Last Poets, Descemer Bueno, Pablo Valero, Yorubandabo, Kumar, Raquel Cepeda, Explosión Suprema, Araña MC and RCA.

Friday 13 August, 11.30 PM, Rialto