Calls from Moscow

(Llamadas desde Moscú)
Luis Alejandro Yero | Documentary

2023 | 66 minutes | Cuba, Germany, Norway

An apartment in Moscow becomes the stage for one day in the lives of four queer Cuban exiles, shortly before Putin’s invasion to Ukraine changes everything.

Synopsis

Luis Alejandro Yero’s striking first feature focuses on a group of migrants and their temporary dwelling in a snowy Moscow high-rise complex. The Russian capital was a pathway for the four young queer Cubans seeking to emigrate from the island, until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine put their fate in limbo.

They live in the city as migrants, some illegal, others recently arrived with a tourist visa. They work at whatever they can find, whether cleaning groceries or as telemarketers selling medicine. They can be as fabulous as they want in the apartment, but the elevator that brings them down to the Moscow streets is already a different space, where they avoid attracting attention; Russia and Cuba are so very far apart.
Spare and intensely felt, the film records their connections to the outside world—phone calls with loved ones, immigration service lines, even remote work—that punctuate the silence and bring small comforts. Far away from the city streets where a bleak war campaign is taking hold, Calls from Moscow quietly contemplates an internal world of waiting.

Reviews

“Yero’s artfully methodical observational film injects an essential perspective into the queer canon. Yero and cinematographer María Grazia Goya favour static long takes that capture the malaise of the waiting game.” — Pat Mullen, POV Magazine

“Between the stillness and empty spaces, the ambient sounds and ominous alien droning, the exquisite framing of rooms and the desperate exiles “trapped” inside them, a jarring existential portrait emerges: Like watching Tolstoy body-snatch Havana.” — Lauren Wissot, Filmmaker Magazine

Citation
Main credits

Yero, Luis Alejandro (film director)
Yero, Luis Alejandro (screenwriter)
Yero, Luis Alejandro (film producer)
Sánchez López, Daniel (film producer)
Fernanda Pirir, Elisa (film producer)

Other credits

Cinematography, María Grazia Goya; editing, Luis Alejandro Yero.


Citation
Cataloging
Keywords
Calls from Moscow,Llamadas desde Moscú,Luis Alejandro Yero,Daniel Sanchez Lopez,documentary,Cuba,Germany,Norway,Russia,refugee,exile,border,illegal,migrant,immigrant,undocumented,María Grazia Goya,Moscow,immigration,diaspora,gay,LGBTI,queer,sexual orientation,loneliness,waiting,apartment,Ukraine,war,Putin,Berlinale,MoMA,Hotdocs,FICG,citizenship,displacement,authority,authoritarianism,government,international relations,global relations,latin american,latino,latina,latin american people,migration studies,migrant studies,immigration studies,refugee studies,diaspora studies,migrant studies,first generation immigrant,first generation immigration,migration studies,migrant studies,immigration studies,refugee studies,diaspora studies,resettlement studies,settlement studies,migration,migrant,immigration,refugee,diaspora,resettlement,settlement,refugees,international migration,continental migration,resettling,settlers,settler,migrant,migrant studies,first generation immigrant,first generation immigration,new americans,new spaniards,gender,sexuality,gender roles,gender identity,sexual orientation,gender equality,gender pronouns,gender studies,gender spectrum,gender norms,gender roles,gender stereotypes,sexual selection,sexualization,sexual awakening,puberty,pubescence,caribbean studies,the caribbean,caribeean sea,caribbean island,antigua and barbuda,bahamas,barbados,cuba,dominica,dominican republic,grenada,haiti,jamaica,saint kitts and nevis,st lucia,st vincent and the grenadines,and trinidad and tobago,anguilla,aruba,british virgin islands,caribbean netherlands,bonaire,sint eustatius,saba,cayman islands,curaçao,guadeloupe,martinique,montserrat,puerto rico,saint barthélemy,saint martin/sint maarten,turks and caicos islands,us virgin islands,immigration,migration,refugee,exile,border,illegal,migrant,immigrant,undocumented,deportation,naturalization,visa,green card,permanent,resident,citizenship,displacement,diaspora,resettlement,political science,micropolitics,macropolitics,political theory,political education,political movements,political thinking,political criticism,poly sci,polysci,political sci,political sciences,political history,history of politics,political systems,authority,authoritarianism,dictatorship,military regime,military government,fascism,repression,oppression,political oppression,political repression,far right,far right wing,modern fascism,international relations,global relations,global studies,international studies,international affairs,intercontinental relations,intercontinental studies,foreign studies,foreign relations,national relations,national studies,cross-continental studies,cross-continental relations,afro latin america,black latin america,afro latino,afro latinx,afro latina,black latino,black latinx,black latina,afro latin,afro-americanism,afro-brazilian,afro-cuban,afro-haitian,afro-colombian,afro-dominican,afro-mexican,afro-puertorican,afro-honduran,afro-bolivian,afro-argentinian,afro-chilean,afro-peruvian,afro-nicauraguan,afro-guatemalan,afro-caribbean,diaspora,slave trade,latin american studies,caribbean american studies,island studies,latin american culture,latin american history,latin american politics, caribbean american culture,caribbean american history,caribbean american politics, latin american languages,latin american and caribbean studies,hispanic american studies,hispanic people,hispanic culture,hispanic politics,; "Calls from Moscow"; Pragda Films
Clips
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Festivals

Berlin International Film Festival; Doc Fortnight: MoMA’s International Festival of Nonfiction Film and Media; Hot Docs; Guadalajara International Film Festival - FEISAL Special Mention Award; FIDBA-Órbita - Special Mention; Pridox Prishtina International Film Festival; Belo Horizonte International Film Festival; Costa Rica International Film Festival; Asterisco Film Festival; Bogota International Film Festival; Gijón International Film Festival; Festival dei Popoli; FILMAR en América Latina; MIDBO; Transcinema; INSTAR Film Festival; Dialogues: Calcutta International LGBTQIA+ Film and Video Festival; Icaro Internacional Film Festival; Miradas Medellin; Third Horizon Film Festival

DIRECTOR: Luis Alejandro Yero

NATIONALITY: Cuba, Germany, Norway

YEAR: 2023

GENRE: Documentary

LANGUAGE: Spanish; English; Russian; Other languages

COLOR / B&W: Color

GRADE LEVEL: Adult, College, High School

SUBTITLE/CC: AVAILABLE

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: NOT AVAILABLE

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