In a Corner of the Soul

“Thanks to the labor of love of a Salvadoran who is more Cuban than palm trees, we can forever have a conversation with Lichi in the beautiful documentary In a Corner of the Soul.” – Alejandro Ríos, El Nuevo Herald

Eliseo Alberto (aka Lichi) was a scion of one of the most renowned families in Cuban arts and letters. He fled to Mexico City in 1990 where he lived the last two decades of his life. Lichi is the co-author of the screenplay for Guantanamera. His novel, Caracol Beach won the Premio Alfaguara and Informe contra mi mismo (Dossier Against Myself) details how he was asked to spy on family and friends when he was in the military. Shortly before his death in 2011, he asked filmmaker Jorge Dalton to film a lengthy conversation with him about his struggles with the revolution and his fervent hope that all Cubans would find a way to right their country’s course and reunite. That fateful, intimate conversation has now become the centerpiece of an urgent and enlightening film. A defender of freedom in its various guises, Lichi was convinced no one could love Cuba as much as he did.

Cuban Film expert Alejandro Ríos, author of the collection of essays La mirada indiscreta, will introduce all screenings.

For reasons as varied as the differences between them, three major Cuban literary figures left the island where they were born and - without losing their identities - made an indelible imprint on the world at large. What the three documentary portraits that comprise this series have in common is the devotion of the filmmakers to rescue from oblivion and celebrate the spirit of these artists, to ensure that their memory will outlive us all.

Check out the rest of our The Roads of Exile program!