LT22 Radio La Colifata

Ugo, magician and “grouchician” (as he defines himself), lives from drink to drink in a crowded, eclectic working-class neighborhood that seems like a setting from another era – a place where working is frowned upon and one can have anything except for obligations. There, he drags his feet on an existentialist nighttime walk, wandering through the labyrinthine refuge of the neighborhood streets in his own mind.

In Santiago de Cuba, rival conga bands scour the sparse marketplace for materials to create show-stopping numbers for the annual Carnival competition. O’Reilly’s film follows young, innovative Lázaro, who is determined to beat “the Shark,” his older and more establishment-favored competitor. Tensions build and tempers flare as the government restrictions and scarcity of present-day Cuba come to bear on one of the world’s poorest Carnivals.