The Cuban/Brazilian short Los minutos, las horas explores a mother-daughter relationship found in many Latino households and depicts the role reversal that occurs as our parents age.
In a modest neighborhood in the center of Havana, Yoli helps her ailing mother take a bath. Yoli’s time is marked by the quehaceres around the house and responsibilities that come with being her mother’s caretaker. Yoli’s everyday is interrupted by a handsome man who quite literally appears on her doorstep. He asks her out on a date and forces Yoli to choose between another night with her mother or a romantic rendezvous.
Laura De la Uz’s Yoli is full of longing but never resentful for the life she lives. Love is a powerful force that can cause us to perceive the demands placed on us not as sacrifices but as duties. Yoli performs them with temperance and affection, even though the lure of adventures unknown lingers in her mind.
Janaína Marqués Ribeiro directed this wistful short film from a script by Spanish screenwriter Pablo Arellano Tintó. Born in Brasilia, Ribeiro produced the short while attending Cuba’s prestigious International School of Cinema in San Antonio de los Baños. One of her professors was filmmaker Lucretia Martel and the Argentine’s influence is subtly apparent in the pacing and placement of a watchful, non-judgmental camera. Shot on 35mm, the film premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and went on to win accolades around the world.