Un Traductor

Foreign Film Series ~ Un Traductor

Wednesday, February 13, 2019 - 7:00pm to 9:00pm
  • Chief Theater, 813 Lincoln Ave.
An official Sundance Film Fest selection from Cuba by Sebastián Barriuso Gonzalez-Mora and Rodrigo Barriuso Gonzalez-Mora, screening at the Chief Theater.

In the wake of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Malin, a Russian literature professor at The University of Havana, is sent to translate between Cuban doctors and children sent from the USSR for medical treatment. Torn from the abstract world of academia and forced into the relentlessly real world of medicine, Malin becomes increasingly depressed. When he meets a child who tells him a story, Malin connects with the kids and finds his way through. Just as he adapts to his new job, the Berlin Wall falls and Cuba enters the deepest economic crisis the island has ever known. But Malin is now so entrenched in the lives of the Chernobyl Children that he doesn’t notice his young family suffering. He must find his way back to his wife and child through the lessons he learns at the hospital – and become a better person on the way.

Screens in Spanish and Russian with English subtitles

Run Time: 

107 minutes
"Shot in Havana...it unfolds at the intersection of socialist ideals, economic realities and personal ambitions...a timeless portrait of what it means to be a cog in the wheel of a single-party regime."
Hollywood Reporter