Unfinished Spaces

If one thinks of the Cuban revolution as an unfinished project, an apt symbol would be the country’s National Arts School. While playing golf in 1961, Fidel Castro conceived of transforming the grounds on the edge of Havana into an ambitious complex to celebrate music, dance, theater and visual arts. Three architects - Roberto Gottardi, Ricardo Porro and Vittorio Garatti – threw themselves into designing a utopia merging traditional and modern styles. With the buildings only partially complete, the enterprise became undone by shifting political tides. Che Guevara attacked the schools fordecadent aestheticism and the three architects wound up scattered to different countries.This film, 10 years in the making, became part of an international initiative to rehabilitate the buildings, now overrun by the jungle. We follow the three architects as they reunite on the school grounds and try to imagine the way forward to fulfilling their decades-old vision. - Thom Powers