Cuba Indígena

Cuban filmmaker Ernesto Daranas directs the shooting of a new documentary film entitled ‘Cuba Indígena’, which approaches traditions, ways of life and costumes of indigenous peoples, particularly the taino, that have contributed to Cuban identity.

With production by the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC), it focuses on the way of life of residents of the communities of La Ranchería, La Escondida and Felicidad de Yateras, in the Cuban eastern province of Guantánamo, as well as residents of Bella Pluma in Santiago de Cuba.

Daranas said he owes a debt of gratitude to his geography professors, who made special emphasis on the legacy of Taino culture on the island.

In the audiovisual, scientists reveal the results of comparing DNA tests, as part of a research study conducted by the National Center for Medical Genetics.

Conceived as a three-chapter series, each lasting about one hour, the audiovisual focuses on the experiences of rural descendants of the Taino in today’s Cuba.

The Taíno were an indigenous people of the Caribbean. At the time of European contact in the late fifteenth century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of what is now Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and the northern Lesser Antilles.

An award-winning filmmaker, Ernesto Daranas has a vast work that includes ¿La vida en rosa? (2004), Los dioses rotos (2008), Conducta (2014) and Sergio & Serguéi (2018).