Paraíso Perdido

Filmmaker Camila Guzmán Urzúa (center) in the “Golden Age” of post-revolutionary Cuba with her classmates, called Pioneers.

Tribeca Film Festival, NYC, April 25-May 6, 2007

The Sugar Curtain (El Telón de Azúcar)
80 minutes
Directed by Camila Guzmán Urzúa
From France, Cuba, and Spain

By Mary Lyn Maiscott

It was good, and then it wasn’t: This heartfelt documentary tries to find significance in the gap between filmmaker Camila Guzmán Urzúa’s Edenic childhood in Cuba in the 1970s and the way things are now. Since she nearly glides past the reasons why (mainly the collapse of the U.S.S.R.), this never quite happens. Still, we see the despair in the beautiful big eyes of her former classmates who continue to live on the isolated island—most have fled to such places as Spain, Canada, or, as with Guzmán Urzúa herself, France—admire the candor with which they speak of “Fifo” (Fidel) and their many problems, and remain fascinated by the sea-washed country that, at least for baby boomers, so affected our own childhood. A special gracias to the native rock band Habana Abierta (now living in Spain) who added a midway jolt of energy to a perhaps too-leisurely film, including the heartening sound of hundreds of Cuban youths deliriously shouting an obscenity-laced chant to the group.

The Sugar Curtain

Fri., April 27, 7:30 PM, AMC 34^th Street-14, 312 W. 34^th Street (bet 8/9 Avenues)

Sat., April 28, 1:45 PM, AMC 34^th Street-10

Sun., April 29, 10:15 AM, AMC Village VII-03, 66 Third Avenue (at 11^th Street)

Mon., April 30, 6:00 PM, AMC Kips Bay-15, 570 Second Avenue (at 32^nd Street)

Tues., May 1, 9:30 PM, AMC Kips Bay-15

Fri., May 4, 5:00 PM, AMC Kips Bay-13

Welcome to the Looseleaf Report

The staff of The Looseleaf Report with the late Ray Evans, Oscar-winning composer of such songs as “Que Sera, Sera” and “Silver Bells,” in New York City, May 2005. Left to Right: Victoria Looseleaf, Sonja Wagner, Evans, Robert Rosen, and Mary Lyn Maiscott.

Welcome to the blog of The Looseleaf Report, a bi-coastal talk show hosted by L.A. Times writer Victoria Looseleaf, and broadcasting on public access TV in Los Angeles and New York since 1986. Looseleaf’s guests over the decades include Leonardo DiCaprio, Henry Rollins, George Carlin, Steve Allen, Sidney Sheldon, and Bud Cort.

We will officially launch our blog on April 25, with on-the-scene coverage from the Tribeca Film Festival in downtown New York City.

In the meantime, watch The Looseleaf Report in New York on Time Warner Cable, every other Thursday at 3 PM on channel 56, or online (click on channel 56). The next show is April 19. In L.A., check your local cable listings.