DMZ국제다큐멘터리영화제

To the West, in Zapata

Cuba, Spain202575minDCPB&W12

Asian Premiere

SYNOPSIS

Landi and Mercedes live in Cuba's unforgiving Zapata marshlands. Amid a pandemic, shortages, and social unrest, they resort to extreme means to support their autistic son, Deinis. Shot entirely in black-and-white by director David Bim, the film contrasts the intensity of crocodile hunting with the quiet routines of Deinis and Mercedes. The rhythm of labor and tense family reunions evolves into a meditation on the bonds and resilience that sustain a family in crisis.

REVIEW

Shot in stark black and white over nearly eight years, To the West, in Zapata is an unvarnished, observational portrait of a couple’s struggle in a Cuban jungle village grappling with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. While its title is enigmatic, the film’s structure is simple, sincere, and quietly devastating.

The first of its two parts sketches the solitary existence of Landi, a crocodile hunter in the Zapata wetlands—one of Cuba’s harshest regions. The second turns inward to his home, where he and his wife, Mercedes, provide constant care for their disabled son, Deinis. In the opening shot—a long rear-tracking view of Landi with a crocodile slung over his shoulder—director David Bim establishes a powerful metaphor for the journey of those who carry heavy burdens.

Later, in a relentless, rain-soaked sequence, the camera holds on Landi as he wrestles a crocodile in the water—a chilling depiction of the brutal calculus of survival. The film closes not with violence, but with a moment of quiet tenderness: as Landi pedals away, Mercedes runs after him—not with a kiss, but with a reminder to take his medicine. In its monochrome images, which find lyrical beauty amid the harshest circumstances, To the West, in Zapata weaves stark poetry from the fabric of a brutal life.

DIRECTOR'S NOTE

My intention has been to witness the daily and painful separation of a family as the only viable mechanism to stay united. I often wondered where they find the strength to carry the rock every time it falls from the top and is dragged back down to the valley. With the years we spent together, I understood that their actions are not meant to bring them relief, but to lighten the load of the one who accompanies them. To live for the other, without the other.