By Bel Hernandez
There are some performers that just grab your attention; Cuban-born Cucu Diamantes –Illeana Padron (her real name) is one of them. She is unique, beautiful, smart and talented. She is a singer, songwriter, actress and philanthropist and you can see her in full glory in the upcoming documentary Amor Cronico which releases on VOD and DVD Wednesday, November 4th. You will be mesmerized.
She recently came back from Rome where Amor Cronico screened at the Iberian-American Film Festival. The critically acclaimed documentary follows Diamantes as she embarks on a whirlwind tour of her birthplace Cuba, interweaving glamour with live performances and a bit of fictional romance. Amor Cronico is a visual love poem to the sights, sounds, and people of Cuba.
Cucu left Cuba back in 1989 when she was sent to Rome on a cultural exchange program as a visual artist with a focus on restoration. There she met a musician, and native Cubano, El Negro Horacio Hernandez, known as one of the best drummers in the world. With his coaxing and her new found love of music, instead of returning home she was off to the music capital of the world, New York to embark on a new life in a new country.
Cucu co-founded and was the lead vocalist of the Grammy nominated New York City fusion band Yerba Buena until Cucu felt it was time to embark on a solo career
In 2010, Cucu was invited to the Peace concert in Cuba where she was performing alongside Juanes and Bose. After the concert, at the after party, as the euphoria ran deep, she had a conversation with actor/promoter Jorge Perugorría who had produced the concert. Cucu expressed her regret that her time on stage was so short and that she would have loved to be able to put on a full concert for her countrymen. Right then and there they agreed that she would come back and do a concert and they would film it – in fact it would be a documentary.
Amor Cronico invites audiences to get up close and personal with Cucu as she returns to Cuba for a coming home of sorts touring across Cuba. Cucu’s electrifying live performances are interwoven into a fictional romance, paying tribute to the history of cinema in surreal fashion. The high energy Latin soundtrack is an eclectic mix of Cucu’s many musical influences. It is a journey of visual love poems to the sights, sounds, and people of Cuba.
While fairly well known in the U.S., Cucu was not quite a household name in Cuba. So she traveled through the country working the stage and winning audiences, all the while being captured on film.
For Cucu the opportunity to come back to perform in small venues all across her beloved Cuba, was a dream come true. Although grueling she was ecstatic to be able to perform, gathering fans as she went along. Although few knew her music, aside from very few who knew some of her work with Yerba Buena, the response to her concerts were incredible she told us.
The documentary was shot in 11 days, while making stops in Santiago de Cuba, Bayamo, Gibara, Camaguey, Cabaiguan, Cienfuegos, Santa Clara, Matanzas and Havana. All in all, Amor Cronico took two years to complete with editing alone taking a year during which time Cucu got engaged (to music producer Andres Levin) and continued to perform in concerts.
Perugorria, who is making his solo directorial debut with Amor Cronico, is primarily known as one of Cuba’s most revered actors for his role in the Oscar nominated film Fresa Y Chocolate (1994), he most recently appeared in Steven Soderbergh’s Che.
Writer/director: Jorge Perugorria. Producer: Andres Levin & Sarah Green. Executive Producer: Cliff Chenfeld Running time: 81 minutes. Brief nudity, adult themes. In Spanish with English subtitles.
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