Memories of Overdevelopment

Memories of Overdevelopment (2011)

Memorias del Desarrollo

Exiled from the world

An intellectual leaves the Cuban revolution and 'underdevelopment' behind only to find himself at odds with the ambiguities of his new life in the 'developed' world. A portrait of alienation, of an outsider with no clear-cut politics or ideology. A stranger in a strange land struggling with old age, sexual desire and ultimately the impossibility for the individual to belong in any society. The film's narrative is a collage of flashbacks, daydreams, and hallucinations comprising live-action, animation, and newsreel footage assembled to suggest the way personal memory works, subjectively and emotionally.

Date of release
2011-11-26
TMDB
6.6 / 10 (5)
Runtime
1h 53m
Genres
Drama
Director
Miguel Coyula

Casting

Interesting facts

Memories of Overdevelopment is a 2010 Cuban film. Written and directed by Miguel Coyula, it is based on a novel by Edmundo Desnoes, also the author of 1968’s Memories of Underdevelopment. It is an independent Cuba–United States co-production, with narrative scenes filmed in both countries. After its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, it garnered several awards and honors. The International Film Guide described it as "one of the best films Cuba has produced".

Production

Production of Memorias del desarrollo began in 2005 and was completed in 2010, with filming taking place in five countries. According to director Miguel Coyula, his first draft of the screenplay was a faithful adaptation of Edmundo Desnoes's novel. As he began filming and editing simultaneously, however, he became aware of new possibilities that would radically alter the narrative structure of the original novel as well as its characters.

According to an interview with Coyula published by CINERRATICA, he took advantage of elements around him that he believed could contribute to the film, heavily manipulating images digitally in the process of creating its highly fragmented final narrative.

Producer David Leitner initially hoped to raise 2 million dollars for the project. But after realizing there was no interest from film production companies neither in North or South America, they reverted to a strategy closer to Coyula's first feature, Red Cockroaches.

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