The experienced Spanish director Agusti Villaronga will make the film adaptation of the erotic novel King of Havana, by the Cuban writer Pedro Juan Gutiérrez.
As noted by the website El Séptimo Arte.net, King of Havana tells the story of Reinaldo a teenage fugitive from a correctional facility, who hits the streets of Havana during the hard 1990’s years, the “special period” in Cuba.
“Yearnings, disappointments, rum and good humor accompany his wandering in the neighborhood of Centro Habana. One day he meets Magda, another survivor as he and between the two emerges a story of impossible love and tragic marked by sex and tenderness. His struggle to find a place to settle and live to create a “normal” family leave raw feelings, while all around, all rumbles like an insatiable tropical hurricane that worn them and eroded them”.
Agusti Villaronga has a long film history. He is the director of films like Pa Negre (Black Bread) that has become one of the great successes of 2010. With it he won numerous awards, among them nine Goyas, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. The film was also nominated to represent Spain at the Oscars. Other acclaimed titles are Aro Tolbukhin, in the mind of the murderer, The Sea, 99.9. The child of the moon and Behind the glass.
In May of 2012, when Villaronga traveled to Havana to present Pa Negre as part of the Spanish film exhibition organized every year by the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), the Iberian filmmaker announced at a press conference he had spent over a year making arrangements to film on the island but declined to give details of the project, since it hadn’t materialized as of yet.
“I cannot talk much because if not, it won’t happen,” he joked at that time and in parallel he would only say “It’s a very project here with Cuban actors”.
They will be in charge of the production of the film, Luisa Matienzo of Tusitala PC, winner of the Golden Shell in 2011 for the film The Double Steps by Isaki Lacuesta, along with Monica Lozano and Film and Video Woodcarving Mexico, responsible for the latest Mexican boom No refunds. The film also features the participation of TVE and Canal +.
Parallel Filmax will distribute the film in Spain and is also responsible for international sales will open doors in the world. The company, based in Barcelona, has extensive experience in both domestic distribution and international sales.
Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, is now considered one of the most unique and nonconformist writers of Latin America. Compared by critics worldwide with Charles Bukowski and Henry Miller, shot to international circuits with Dirty Havana Trilogy (Editorial Anagram), published in more than 20 countries and translated into 18 languages.
It is expected that the shooting of The King of Havana commence during the spring of next year and continue for eight weeks.
