Buena Vista Social Club DVD 1998 / Directed by Wim Wenders / Featuring: Ibrahim Ferrer, Rubén González, Compay Segundo, Eliades Ochoa, Ry Cooder, Omara Portuondo

UPC 5998285750008

MADE IN EU

REGION 2 PAL DVD

Audio: English 5.1, English 2.0, Spanish 5.1, Spanish 2.0

Subtitle: Hungarian

Runtime: 101 minutes

English Summary:

Buena Vista Social Club is an ensemble of Cuban musicians established in 1996 to revive the music of pre-revolutionary Cuba. The project was organized by World Circuit executive Nick Gold, produced by American guitarist Ry Cooder and directed by Juan de Marcos González. They named the group after the homonymous members' club in the Buenavista quarter of Havana, a popular music venue in the 1940s. To showcase the popular styles of the time, such as son, bolero and danzón, they recruited a dozen veteran musicians, many of whom had been retired for many years.

Shortly after returning from Havana to record the Buena Vista Social Club album, Ry Cooder began working with German film director Wim Wenders on the soundtrack to Wenders' film The End of Violence, the third such collaboration between the two artists. According to Wenders, it was an effort to force Cooder to focus on the project, "He always sort of looked in the distance and smiled, and I knew he was back in Havana." Although Wenders knew nothing about Cuban music at the time, he became enthused by tapes of the Havana sessions provided by Cooder, and agreed to travel to the island to film the recording of Buena Vista Social Club Presents: Ibrahim Ferrer, the singer's first solo album, in 1998.

Wenders filmed the recording sessions on the recently enhanced format Digital Video with the help of cinematographer Robert Müller, and then shot interviews with each "Buena Vista" ensemble member in different Havana locations. Wenders was also present to film the group's first performance with a full line-up in Amsterdam in April 1998 (two nights) and a second time in Carnegie Hall, New York City on 1 July 1998. The completed documentary was released on 17 September 1999, and included scenes in New York of the Cubans, some of whom had never left the island, window shopping and visiting tourist sites. According to Sight & Sound magazine, these scenes of "innocents abroad" were the film's most moving moments, as the contrasts between societies of Havana and New York become evident on the faces of the performers. Ferrer, from an impoverished background and staunchly anti consumerist, was shown describing the city as "beautiful" and finding the experience overwhelming. Upon completion of filming, Wenders felt that the film "didn't feel really like it was a documentary anymore. It felt like it was a true character piece".

Hungarian Summary:

Wim Wenders és Ry Cooder 20 éve ismerik egymást. Cooder olyan filmeknek komponálta a zenéjét, mint a Párizs, Texas vagy Az erőszak vége. Ez utóbbi közös munkájuk során Cooder gyakran lelkendezett kubai útjáról, ahol néhány öreg, feledésbe merült kubai muzsikussal készített felvételeket. Lemezük Buena Vista Social Club címen jelent meg és világszerte több millió példányban kelt el, majd Grammy-díjat is kapott.

Ry Cooder 1998 elején ismét Kubába utazott, hogy szólólemezt készítsen Ibrahim Ferrerrel, aki egyike volt a Buena Vista Social Club zenészeinek. Erre az útjára elkísérte egy forgatóstábbal Wim Wenders, aki megörökítette a stúdióban folyó munkát, valamint mindennapi életüket Havannában.

A filmezés Amsterdamban folytatódott, ahol a zenészek két koncertet adtak, majd nyáron New York-ban végződött, a legendás Carneige Hall-beli diadalmas fellépésükkel.

Hangsáv(ok): Dolby Digital 5.1 angol; Dolby Digital 2.0 angol; Dolby Digital 2.0 spanyol; Dolby Digital 5.1 spanyol
Felirat: magyar
Képformátum(ok): 16:9 (1.66:1) (1.78:1) (1.85:1) (2.35:1) (2.40:1) (2.55:1) (2.70:1) (2.76:1) (2.39:1)

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