These films represent two parts of Cremata’s Crematorio (Crematorium) tetralogy, which he initially began shooting in Cuba, under the auspices of the Film Institute, before production was frozen and he was forced to finish it outside of the country. The family patriarch has died and everyone gathers at the funeral home. Now that he lies in silence in his coffin, dressed as a militiaman, it is time to hold him accountable. The widow is a senile elderly woman in a wheelchair, and her daughter is developmentally delayed. And then there is the "secret" family: a mulatto woman who has taken care of the “cripples,” the son (a bastard) and his intriguing wife; a babalawo, or priest of the Ifá oracle; a transvestite, accompanied by a court of drag queens; the unmissable émigré daughter, just arrived from Miami. The entire clan has arrived not for his forgiveness, but to demand revenge.
Crematorio I: En fin…el mal (Crematorium I: In Short...Evil). 2013. Cuba. Directed by Juan Carlos Cremata. 32 min.
Mar (L) de fondo (Sea Background). 2017. Cuba. Directed by Juan Carlos Cremata. 23 min.