After a power outage that pushed the concert back two hours, somehow we still filled the house at Teatro Melia in Havana. My all Cuban crew did an amazing job covering the concert with 12 cameras. All equipment (including A7Rs, dollys, and cranes) was in house in case you were wondering! Planning a shoot ahead of time in Cuba is impossible. I couldn't get my DP on the phone let alone email. The next morning, with minutes to spare for the airport, my producer delivers the drive with all of the media backed up. I checked from the taxi and sure enough it was the wrong drive. Fortunately, our plane was cancelled and we had to spend an extra night so I was able to get most of the footage before i left for the U.S. The missing footage took over a month to get! The biggest challenge was to trust it would all work out. And the footage came out beautiful. "Expectations" may not be in the Cuban vocabulary, but "friendship", "kindness", and "generosity" are.
My all pro, all Cuban crew at the Havana Jazz Festival. It was an 11 camera shoot that included dollys and cranes, covering 20 artists and about a 35 piece orchestra.
The beautiful The Teatro Nacional de Cuba
My tireless producer Renè who took care of everything including keeping me from falling over after the shoot. Sad to leave this beautiful country.
Aside from finding the most talented musicians to collaborate on the 2B1S album, Vivian and Ray know how to find the best restaurants in Cuba.
Cuban brothers Gabriel and Ruben Rodriguez were supposed to attend the 2B1S CD release party in NYC but after the Sonic Attacks in Havana, the U.S. Embassy shut down and they couldn't get a visa to travel. So Vivian brought the concert to them. I got to spend an afternoon filming them around Havana the day before the concert. You can hear some of their music on the 2B1S album on iTunes.
I saw this torn down building from across the street and asked Renè if we could do our interview with the Rodriguez Brothers there. We were setting up in there 15 minutes later. One of the downsides of shooting in Cuba is not being able to plan ahead much. The upside is you can figure it out as you go with a little cash.
No one made me laugh harder than my dear friend and talented DP Raul Prado AKA Pepe Le Pew. The moment we wrapped was quite exhilarating!