Casa Blanca
Casa Blanca is a small fishing village on the Gulf of Havana. Nelsa (76) and her son Vladimir (37), who has Down syndrome, share a tiny room in an overcrowded multi-family building. Vladimir is the only caretaker for ailing Nelsa, and Nelsa is the only person to watch over Vladimir, who easily gets into trouble. Their relationship is filled with conflicts: she is trying to control her son, while he prefers to help fishermen at work, have fun and drink rum with them, rather than spend time with his mother. Every day Nelsa wanders the streets of Casa Blanca in search of her only child not returning home early. One day, she falls ill.
2016 Polish Film Festival in America, Chicago; won: Special Jury Award
2016 Festival Internazionale del Cinema di Frontiera “FrontDoc”, Aosta; won: Young People’s Jury Award for best documentary feature film
2016 Szczecin European Film Festival, Szczecin; won: Award for the best film exploring the boundaries of documentary film in the European Competition
2016 Margaret Mead Film Festival, New York; won: Grand Prize
2016 Cine Ceara Festival, Fortaleza; won: Student Jury Award
2016 Gdańsk DocFilm Festival “Dignity and Work”; won: Honorable mention
2016 TRT Documentary Award – international competition; won: Best documentary film.
2016 International Documentary Film Festival “Punto de Vista”, Pamplona; won: Young People’s Jury Award for The Best Film; Special Audience Award.
2016 November International Film Festival, Minsk; won: Diploma
2015 Międzynarodowy Festiwal Filmowy “Off Cinema”, Poznań; won: “Złoty Zamek”
2015 Trinidad+Tobago Film Festival, Port of Spain; won: Award for best feature documentary;’ Special Mention by the jury of the Amnesty International Human Rights Prize
2015 European Film Festival “Integration You and I”, Koszalin; won: Honorable mention
2015 Krakow Film Festival – Polish Competition; won: Golden Lajkonik
