Film #1 in the
"Latin America and the World" Film Festival
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Synopsis:
Based on the little-known true story of how twenty thousand Chernobyl victims were eventually treated in Cuba, Un Traductor unfolds as a tale at once historical and personal, brought to life in crisply shot, beautifully realized period detail of a Havana on the brink of economic crisis.
Havana, 1989: Russian literature professor Malin (Rodrigo Santoro, of Westworld fame) receives a mysterious note at the university with orders from the government sending him to a local hospital, where he learns he is expected to act as translator between Cuban doctors and the families of young patients from the catastrophic accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant. Initially raging against his new role, Malin is forced to stay on. He eventually becomes deeply devoted to his patients, who suffer from radiation-related diseases. But while he becomes “king of the kids” at the hospital, his relationships with his pregnant wife Isona and young son Javi suffer.
Meanwhile, life around all of them shifts as the “Special Period”—the economic crisis in Cuba that followed the dissolution of the Soviet Union—begins.
Languages: Spanish and Russian, with English subtitles
View a study/discussion guide, made available by Pragda.
Film Trailer:
Sponsors:
The "Latin America and The World" Film Festival was organized by the Center for Latin American Studies at The Ohio State University and is made possible with the support of Pragda, SPAIN arts & culture, and the Secretary of State for Culture of Spain.
The screening of "Un Traductor" is sponsored by the Center for Slavic, East European & Eurasian Studies and the Center for Latin American Studies.
Additional co-sponsors of the "Latin America and the World" Film Festival include: Columbus State Community College, the Area Studies Centers, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the Department of French and Italian, the Center for Ethnic Studies, the Center for Languages, Literatures & Cultures, and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
