Days before the invasion of Ukraine is announced, four young Cubans visit a Moscow apartment for a 24-hour stay. In their phone calls, the present and future coexist: their stories as queer and undocumented immigrants, and the exchanges with the film’s director after the outbreak of the war.
“Even if primarily contained to the apartment’s sparse interior — the film only occasionally punctuated by shots of the frigid cityscape — Calls from Moscow bears witness to the complex current political situation in both Cuba and Russia. In a collective effort to recount the dramatic experience of exodus, the film establishes parallels between the repression from the Russian and Cuban governments, its subjects declaring that they have moved from one country without democracy to another.”
Zaira Zarza (for Arsenal, Institute of Film and Video Art of Germany)
International Premiere: Berlinale Forum 2023