Los Angeles, CA – The Last Rafter, the first feature film of Cuban directors Carlos Rafael Betancourt and Oscar Ernesto Ortega, premiered on HBO Latino on June 4, 2021, and will be available to stream on HBO Max. The Last Rafter had a successful online festival run despite the pandemic and it gained special recognition in LatinX film circuits including opening for the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival.
This very personal film, made totally independently, became a unique story of success, with groundbreaking simultaneous theatrical screenings in Miami and Havana – something that hasn’t happened over the last 60 years of political tension. The film touches on universal themes of toxic masculinity, homophobia, discrimination, privilege, and immigration. For years, many Cubans risked life and limb to cross the nearly 90-mile stretch between the island and the United States. They did it in motorboats, row boats, and handmade rafts, with the hope of a faster path to becoming U.S. Citizens under the ‘Wet Foot, Dry Foot’ policy.
Synopsis: This is a risk that Ernesto, a young Cuban philosopher, and unlikely rafter, decides to take in order to find his long-lost father. But unbeknownst to him, that policy was revoked mere hours before his arrival and he becomes the first Cuban undocumented immigrant in the United States.
The Official Trailer for EL ULTIMO BALSERO – THE LAST RAFTER directed by Carlos Rafael Betancourt and Oscar Ernesto Ortega
Directors Carlos Rafael Betancourt and Oscar Ernesto Ortega follow Ernesto as he unravels his new life: navigating a complex and polarized world, finding friends old and new, perhaps finding love and, most of all, finding his father, in a quest to bring closure to a past of intolerance and hate that haunts him.
Carlos Rafael Betancourt and Oscar Ernesto Ortega have been breaking through walls their entire lives. Creating from scratch in Cuba as they founded El Central in their teenage years, one of the first production houses making independent shorts and documentaries despite the state-controlled media, which carried on to become the production company of their first film, more than 10 years later.
They managed to put together a story contained enough for them to handle it well in a micro-budget, self-financed way. They wrote and directed together, Oscar was the cinematographer and Carlos the editor. They pretty much hand-crafted this film, surrounding themselves with a very talented and supportive cast and crew.
Lead actor Hector Medina (‘Viva’, ‘The King of Havana’) was surrounded by an amazingly talented and diverse cast who brought their different life experiences into the characters enhancing the story and creating a beautiful family-like relationship, including singer Cristina García from Afrobeta, Chaz Mena, (‘Bloodline’), Rene Lavan (‘Havana Nights, Dirty Dancing’, ‘Bitter Sugar’), Sarahi Diaz (‘Burn Notice’), Fransisco Porras (‘Betty in New York’)and Carmen Pelaez (‘Rum and Coke’).
The film premiered in March at the Miami Film Festival, with four more sold-out screenings to go when the festival was canceled because of COVID-19. Carlos and Oscar were shocked, and their dream of festival rounds, sharing their film with an audience, started to fade. While a lot of festivals and film releases got pushed or canceled, Carlos and Oscar took the chance and joined LALIFF’s initiative of an online version of the festival. The Last Rafter was the Opening Night Film of LALIFF Connect 2020, with an amazing introduction by award-winning actor and activist Edward James Olmos.
The Last Rafter continued its path into Latinx film festivals in New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Oklahoma (‘Winner: Best Cinematography and Best Actress’), and Boston (‘Winner: Best Narrative Film’). The film was exhibited on online versions in the Madrid, Montreal, and Santa Fe Independent Film Festivals, Dallas and St. Louis International Film Festivals, all streamed with great reception from a broad audience, press, and social media, as much-needed relief to cope with a world on halt.
Finally, December rolled around, and theaters started to slowly open. The Last Rafter went back to Miami, this time on a commercial run at the historic Tower Theater in Little Havana, helping the art-house cinema come back to life after months of being closed due to the pandemic. The film expanded its showings at Silverspot Cinema in downtown Miami and became the biggest Box Office hit in town during the weeks it was running. At the same time, the film played at the Havana International Film Festival, in groundbreaking parallel showings in both countries, something that hasn’t happened over the last 60 years of political tension.
This film is a bridge between two Cubas, one inside and one outside of the island. Carlos and Oscar didn’t shy away from the complicated landscape they were navigating, on the contrary, they tackled it head-on, focusing on the personal experiences of the people in the middle instead of the bigger conflicts.
Carlos and Oscar explored hard and complex subjects, but their characters rise above their situation, with levity and humor, revealing their humanity and the nuances of their relationships. They combine influences of Latin American independent cinema with a more current LatinX, Spanglish world, exploring universal themes with a unique voice that resonates with audiences everywhere.
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