In 2013, a change to Cuban passport laws enabled controversial blogger Yoani Sánchez to leave her country for a trip abroad (she was previously rejected 20 times). Filmmakers Peppe Siffredi and Raphael Bottino's documentary follows Sánchez on a February 2013 trip to Brazil, where she is greeted with a mix of praise and hostility. Sánchez's schedule is packed with media interviews and guest appearances at special events, but she is constantly shadowed by angry protestors who call her a traitor to both her country and the spirit of the Castro revolution. Sánchez appears to be mostly amused by her detractors—it is never entirely clear who is organizing their efforts—and her presence in Brazil is overwhelmingly greeted with positive feedback from the reporters, government officials, and students she encounters. While the film offers disturbing insights into the extreme measures used by the Cuban government to censor and limit Internet access for its people, Sánchez's power as a writer is presented mostly by reputation. Relatively little of the writing from her famous “Generation Y” blog is offered (her relatively mild criticism of the Castro regime and the problems facing Cubans seems rather tame by the roughhouse standards of American blogging). What Yoani's Trip does highlight, however, is the continued lack of free expression in Cuba. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)
Yoani's Trip
(2014) 70 min. In Portuguese & Spanish w/English subtitles. DVD: $89: high schools & public libraries; $350: colleges & universities. PRAGDA. PPR. Volume 31, Issue 5
Yoani's Trip
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