CASA BLANCA

Casa Blanca is a small fishing village on the Gulf of Havana. Nelsa (76) and her son Vladimir (37), who has Down syndrome, share a tiny room in an overcrowded multi-family building. Vladimir is the only caretaker for ailing Nelsa, and Nelsa is the only person to watch over Vladimir, who easily gets into trouble. Their relationship is filled with conflicts: she is trying to control her son, while he prefers to help fishermen at work, have fun and drink rum with them, rather than spend time with his mother.

Every day Nelsa wanders the streets of Casa Blanca in search of her only child not returning home early.

One day, she falls ill.

  • Genre: Documentary
  • Country: Poland
  • Running time: 60
  • Year: 2015
  • Color: kolorowy

Director: Aleksandra Maciuszek

Script: Aleksandra Maciuszek

DOP: Javier Labrador Deulofeu

Editing: Lorenzo Mora Salazar

Production company: KIJORA / Anna Gawlita

Trailer

About the director:

Aleksandra Maciuszek

Aleksandra Maciuszek

Born in Krakow, graduate of Cultural Studies at the Jagiellonian University and documentary film directing in the Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión de San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. Before her studies she worked in NGOs and cultural institutions in Poland, Spain and Mexico. Her thesis film "Escenas Previas" / "Previous Scenes" (2012) won multiple awards at international film festivals. "Casa Blanca" is her debut feature documentary.

At festivals:

Visions du Réel International Film Festival 2015, Switzerland, 2015 (competition)

55th Krakow Film Festival, Poland, 2015 (The Silver Horn)

Ceau, Cinema! Film Festival, Romania, 2015 (competition)

Trinidad+Tobago FF, 2015 (Amnesty International Human Rights Prize)

IDFF "Flahertiana", Russia, 2015 (screening)

Balinale - IFF, Indonesia, 2015 (competition)

25th Message to Man International FF, Russia, 2015 (screening)

10th DocsDF, Mexico, 2015 (competition)

Minsk IFF "Listapad", Belarus, 2015 (Special Mention)

Gold Panda Awards, China, 2015 (competition)

37th International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, Cuba, 2015 (Premio Coral)

"Cinema Verite" Iran International Documentary FF, Iran, 2015 (competition)

‘Punto de Vista’ International Documentary FF, Spain, 2016 (Premio Especial del Público a la Mejor Película)

Festival Ojoloco sur le Cinéma Ibérique et Latino-Américain de Grenoble, France, 2016 (competition)

International Women’s Films Festival Creteil, Frace, 2016 (competition)

13th Docudays UA, Ukraine, 2016 (competition)

TRT Documentary Days, Turkey, 2016 (Best Documentary Award)

EDOC, Ecuador, 2016 (competition)

Documentarist, Turkey, 2016 (competition)

Inconvenient Film Festival, Lithuania, 2016 (screening)

DocsMX, Mexico, 2016 (competition)

Women Make Waves Film Festival, Taiwan, 2016 (competition)

Margaret Mead Film Festival, USA, 2016 (Margaret Mead Filmmaker Award)

Human Rights FF: Inconvenient Films, Lithuania, 2016 (screening)

Szczecin European Film Award, Poland, 2016 (Award for the best film in European Competition)

CinéDOC-Tbilisi, Georgia, 2016 (competition)

FrontDoc, Italy, 2016 (Young Jury Price)

Festival Ojoloco, France, 2017 (screening)

Tripoli DocuDays, Leabanon, 2017 (screening)