Cuba | documentary | color | 77 min | 2021

Film info

  • SYNOPSIS

    Filmmaker Daniela Muñoz Barroso, who is almost completely deaf, wants to discover the identity of the remarkable musician Mafifa. Her quest leads her on the trail of an enigmatic woman, and also makes her question her own head and heart.
     

    PLOT KEYWORDS

    Documentary | True story | memory | road movie | rural life | gender roles | women filmmaker | heroines | traditional music styles | female musician | hearing impairment | disabilities | Cuba | Caribbean | directorial debut

    • ABOUT THIS FILM

      Filmmaker Daniela Muñoz Barroso has lost most of her hearing, and can barely hear high frequencies at all. She uses her eyes not only to see, but also to listen. And yet Barroso has developed a fascination for Gladys Esther Linares, aka Mafifa, a female musician who played the bell, a metal percussion instrument prominent in Cuban conga. Mafifa died 40 years ago, at a far-too-young age.
      In this very personal road movie, Barroso goes in search of the traces that Mafifa left behind in Santiago de Cuba and the surrounding area. She speaks to people who knew Mafifa and shared her passion for the conga. Everyone describes her as an extraordinary person and a brilliant bell player, who didn’t care about the machismo around her.
      Barroso explores every detail with her camera: beautiful landscapes, neighborhoods that have seen better days, and weather-beaten bodies that speak of a hard life. The deeper Barroso dives into her quest, the more Mafifa becomes a mirror for her own fears. (source: IDFA)

    CREW & CAST

    Original title: Mafifa
    International title: Mafifa
    Original language: Spanish
    Directed by: Daniela Muñoz Barroso
    Produced by: Leila Montero, Daniela Muñoz Barroso
    Cinematography: Daniela Muñoz Barroso
    Editing: Joanna Montero
    Sound design: Glenda L. Martínez Cabrera
    Music: Sarah Gutiérrez, Pepe Gavilondo
    Screenplay: Daniela Muñoz Barroso, Carlos Melián Moreno & Joanna Montero
    Narrated by: Daniela Muñoz Barroso
    An Estudio ST Production

    FESTIVALS & AWARDS
    • Winner. Fondo Fomento del Cine Cubano
    • Awards at Haciendo Cine (WIP)- Muestra Joven, Cuba: Premio Memoria, granted by the Centro Pablo de la Torriente Brau, Espiral Servicios Audiovisuales. Estudios de Animación Icaic. Nuevas Miradas
    • Selected for Incubando – Nuevas Miradas (WIP), EICTV
    • World Premiere. Luminous. IDFA 2021
    • Official Selection. Göteborg Film Festival 2022
    • Official Selection. It’s all true Film Festival 2022.
    • Winner. Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival. FIPRESCI Award. Turkey, 2022.

      • See all film fests in which this film has participated

  • SINOPSIS

    La cineasta Daniela Muñoz Barroso emprende un viaje al oriente de Cuba tras la pista de Mafifa, una mujer enigmática que tocaba un instrumento de percusión propio de hombres, cuyo sonido Daniela —que padece de hipoacusia— no puede escuchar. El periplo la hará cuestionar sus convicciones y enfrentar sus temores.

    FICHA TÉCNICA

    Título original: Mafifa
    Título internacional: Mafifa
    Idioma original: Spanish
    Dirigido por: Daniela Muñoz Barroso
    Producción: Leila Montero, Daniela Muñoz Barroso
    Dirección de fotografía: Daniela Muñoz Barroso
    Edición: Joanna Montero
    Diseño de sonido: Glenda L. Martínez Cabrera
    Música: Sarah Gutiérrez, Pepe Gavilondo
    Guión: Daniela Muñoz Barroso, Carlos Melián Moreno & Joanna Montero
    Narración: Daniela Muñoz Barroso
    Una producción de Estudio ST

    FESTIVALES Y PREMIOS
    • Proyecto ganador de la primera convocatoria del Fondo Fomento del Cine Cubano
    • Premios Haciendo Cine (WIP)- Muestra Joven, Cuba: Premio Memoria, otorgado por el Centro Pablo de la Torriente Brau, Espiral Servicios Audiovisuales, Estudios de Animación Icaic y Nuevas Miradas
    • Seleccionada para Incubando – Nuevas Miradas (WIP), EICTV
    • Premiere mundial. Luminous. IDFA 2021
    • Selección Oficial. Göteborg Film Festival 2022
    • Selección Oficial. Festival É tudo verdade 2022.
    • Mejor Película. Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival. Premio FIPRESCI. Turquía, 2022.

    Ver todos los festivales en los que la película participó

  • SINOPSE

    A cineasta Daniela Muñoz Barroso embarca numa viagem à região oriental de Cuba na trilha de Mafifa, uma enigmática mulher que tocava um instrumento de percussão reservado só a homens, cujo som Daniela – que sofre de hipoacusia – não consegue ouvir. A jornada a fará questionar suas convicções e enfrentar seus medos.

    FICHA TÉCNICA

    Título original: Mafifa
    Título internacional: Mafifa
    Idioma original: Spanish
    Dirigido por: Daniela Muñoz Barroso
    Produção: Leila Montero, Daniela Muñoz Barroso
    Direção de fotografia: Daniela Muñoz Barroso
    Edição: Joanna Montero
    Design de som: Glenda L. Martínez Cabrera
    Música: Sarah Gutiérrez, Pepe Gavilondo
    Roteiro: Daniela Muñoz Barroso, Carlos Melián Moreno & Joanna Montero
    Narrado por: Daniela Muñoz Barroso
    Uma produção de Estudio ST

    FESTIVAIS E PRÊMIOS
    • Projeto ganhador do primeiro edital do Fondo Fomento del Cine Cubano
    • Prêmios Haciendo Cine (WIP)- Muestra Joven, Cuba: Prêmio Memoria, outorgado pelo Centro Pablo de la Torriente Brau, Espiral Servicios Audiovisuales, Estudios de Animación Icaic e Nuevas Miradas
    • Selecionada para Incubando – Nuevas Miradas (WIP), EICTV
    • Premiere mundial. Luminous. IDFA 2021
    • Seleção Oficial. Göteborg Film Festival 2022
    • Seleção oficial. Festival É tudo verdade 2022.
    • Melhor filme. Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival. Prêmio FIPRESCI. Turquia, 2022.

    Conferir todos os festivais nos que o filme já participou.

Screening

  • TRAILER

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Press

  • Daniela Muñoz Barroso estrenará en IDFA su documental ‘Mafifa’, un ejercicio etnográfico desde las fronteras del Yo. Ángel Pérez. RIALTA

    “Mafifa, the most recent documentary by Cuban director and producer Daniela Muñoz Barroso, is the work of a unique ethnographic vocation…The film manages to calibrate, with surprising authenticity, an aesthetic experience full of revelations, which, without pose of stylistic transcendence, it enhances the sharpness of the its discourse and transforms it into something more.” [Full Review in Spanish]
     
  • ‘Mafifa’: IDFA Review. SCREEN DAILY

    “Daniela Muñoz Barroso presents a dynamic portrait of late Cuban congan musician Mafifa. A rare, welcome example of a biographical documentary whose own style matches the unorthodox and radical example of its subject, Daniel Munoz Barroso’s Mafifa irresistibly plunges the viewer into the hectic world of Cuban conga music. Premering in the non-competitive Luminous sidebar at IDFA, this is just the kind of micro-budget production which can so easily be overlooked, but which deserves ample play in festivals and small-screen outlets both general and non-fiction oriented.” [Full Review]
     
  • IDFA 2021: Luminous and Frontlight sections unveiled alongside first competitions, IDFA on Stage. Nick Cunningham. BUSINESS DOC EUROPE

    “In Mafifa, director Daniela Muñoz Barroso creates a sensory feast that uses the power of cinema to share the experience of progressive hearing loss. ” [Full Review]  

Press coverage

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