Angela Davis, Keorapetse "Willie" Kgositsile, Gloria Rolando

United States premier of Reembarque, a triumph, 9/28/14

Cuba-born Gloria Rolando’s film Reembarque made its North American debut last Saturday at the ¿With/Out Borders? Conference on the picturesque campus of Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Sponsored by the Kalamazoo Arcus Center for Social justice Leadership, ¿With/Out Borders? attracted luminaries such as American political activist, scholar, and author Angela Davis and South Africa’s first National Poet Laureate, Keorapetse “Willie” Kgositsile.

Screened in the presence of College President Dr. Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran, students, faculty, and academics from the US and points beyond, Reembarque’s American premier screening earned a standing ovation from an audience of progressive activists and thinkers.

Reembarque, in the vein of Rolando’s Breaking the Silence, even as it exposes a forgotten chapter of Cuba’s history, does it with the hand of a director committed to a full accounting of her country’s history in all its flawed brilliance.

Tested under the eyes of a knowledgeable audience in complete solidarity with Cuba and all that it stands for, Reembarque was praised for its outstanding historical research, its cinematic quality, and its brilliant portrayal of the Haitian/Cuban creole culture. It does so with a clear and descriptive script written by Rolando, coloured by Lucia Huergo’s wonderful musical score, the performance of the Grupo Vocal Desandann, and the moving theme song composed and sung in both Spanish and French creole by Ebenezer Seme Santiago.

Oscar Wailoo
The Caribbean Camera Newspaper
Toronto, Canada