To the West, in Zapata

In the 63rd year of the revolution—or 2021 outside Cuba—a man laboriously carries a crocodile through jungle and marshland. In the following scenes, he skins it, drinks and washes in the same water, and then kills another. Back in the village, the man’s wife and son patiently wait for him to return with the family’s livelihood. Covid has paralyzed the world, hitting hardest those already living at subsistence level. With hypnotic black-and-white imagery, To the West, in Zapata tells a moving story in which humanity shines through every gesture.

With support from Instituto Cervantes.