Cuban tradition and an Iranian Jewish father reach a point of contention to create a cataclysmic cross-cultural infusion

This moving romantic drama about a struggling Cuban ballet dancer, who crosses paths with an Iranian-Canadian Jewish woman looking for love, brings the 25th UK Jewish Film Festival to a vibrant close this week. Sin La Habana screens online and in person at London's Picturehouse Central (18 Nov), having taken home the award for Best Canadian Film at Vancouver International Film Festival earlier this year, much to the delight of Canadian director Kaveh Nabatian.

In the opening moments Leonardo, played by Yonah Acosta, is fired by his ballet school for challenging his demotion to the role of Prince of Verona in the forthcoming Romeo and Juliet production. "It’s such a classic ballet," Nabatian explains, "and the idea of star-crossed lovers makes sense for the film.” It’s also our first insight into the racism Leonardo faces within the ballet world, who also experiences tokenism and is asked to "perform ethnically". The story gives a subtle nod to Acosta in real life, who was recently a principal dancer in Romeo and Juliet at the Bayerisches Staatsballett in Germany.

Bored of teaching salsa to tourists, Leonardo and his girlfriend Sara (Evelyn Castroda O’Farrill) hatch a plan for him to seduce his Canadian dance student Nasim (Aki Yaghoubi) in the hope that she'll take him to Montreal, where he’ll marry for Canadian citizenship.

It's an immersive movie, full of close-ups and authentic dialogue between characters, sometimes sacrificing a more dramatic outcome for a realistic one. The director spent a long time in Cuba, researching for the movie as well working with co-writer and Afro-Cuban academic Pablo Herrera. Sin La Habana is peppered with flashbacks to Cuba, scenes of voodoo rituals, drumming and native Santerían dances in honour of the goddess Oshun, accompanied by a carefully selected soundtrack that represents a wide range of Cuban and Canadian musical traditions.

Nabatian showcases newly famed Montreal singer-songwriter Dominique Fils-Aimé, including her track 'Nameless' alongside the celebrated work of Cuban opera singer Esther Borja, who's 1950 track 'Nunca Te Lo Dire' ('I Will Never Tell You') also makes an appearance. “All of the songs in the film are linked by the idea of the spaces between people”, says Nabatian, who not only helped select the soundtrack, but even composed some of it too. At times, Sin La Habana is a sensory overload, but these moments are fleeting, and the colourful scenes provide some much-needed contrast to a grey Montreal.

Nasim belongs to an Iranian-Canadian Jewish family. She rarely mentions her heritage, but her desire to break away and reject customs by dating a non-Jewish black man suggests she comes from a rigid background. We meet them later at a Farsi brit milah ceremony (circumcision), where tensions climax between Nasim and her father, who’s played by Nabatian’s own Jewish father. It’s a true-to-life representation of modern Jews in the diaspora that manages to expose the xenophobia that still plagues communities today. Nabatian demonstrates religious similarities between the different traditions in a running theme of blood sacrifice, "from Leonardo cutting himself on the stained glass to Nasim’s scar, or the Cuban rooster sacrifice”.

Nabatian effortlessly weaves in stylistic symbols throughout the film, such as the translucent marble that Sara gifts to Leonardo, signifying their promise to reunite in Montreal. This refracts the light from the Caribbean sun straight to camera, blurring the audience’s vision, which unexpectedly breaks the fourth wall and reminds us of the blurry future that Sara and Leonardo are heading towards.

Sin La Habana is a wonderful way to end the two-week film festival, providing a celebration of cross-cultural and cross-generational diversity that in many ways defines modern Jewish culture.

By Betsy Cohen

Sin La Habana is screening as part of UK Jewish Film Festival on Thursday 18 November. Online and at Picturehouse Central, W1D 7DH. 6pm. £16. ukjewishfilm.eventive.org