Havana Motor Club 2015
Previous FilmsHAVANA MOTOR CLUB tells a personal, character-driven story about Cuba’s vibrant community of underground drag racers and their quest to hold Cuba’s first official car race since shortly after the 1959 Revolution. It tackles how Cuba’s recent reforms — the owning of property, allowance of small businesses, and greater exchange between Cubans, Cuban Americans, tourists, and other foreigners — have affected the lives of these racers and their families.
One racer enlists the help of a Cuban American patron in Miami to bring in parts for his modern Porsche. His main competitor is a renowned mechanic who uses ingenuity rather than resources to create a racing machine out of his 1955 Chevy Bel Air. Another racer ponders whether he will participate in the race or sell his motor — one that he recovered on the ocean floor from a ship used to smuggle Cubans off the island — in order to flee Cuba on a raft headed to Florida. Meanwhile, the race itself is in jeopardy of coming to fruition due to factors ranging from its status as an elitist sport to the arrival of the Pope in Cuba.
Through the experiences of these racers and their community, HAVANA MOTOR CLUB explores how Cuba is changing today and what its future holds in light of Obama’s recent move to normalize relations with the island nation.
The Filmmakers
Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt, Director + Producer + Editor
Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker. He co-directed and edited DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL (Samuel Goldwyn Films, 2011). He directed and produced LUMO (POV, 2007), a documentary about the recovery process of a young rape survivor at a unique hospital in eastern Congo that won a Student Academy Award and was broadcast on PBS. He served as the co-producer and additional editor of CONTROL ROOM (Magnolia Pictures, 2004), and the associate editor of VALENTINO: THE LAST EMPEROR (Acolyte Films, 2008). He wrote, directed, produced, and edited LES VULNERABLES (Perlmutt Productions, 2007), the closing night short of the New York Film Festival and a grand jury prize-winner at AFI Dallas. He also edited and field-produced MAN V. VOLCANO (Market Road Films, 2011) for National Geographic Explorer, and most recently edited an episode of MTV’s series “REBEL MUSIC” set in Venezuela.
Perlmutt has been a correspondent for UNICEF and has made films for healthcare-related NGOs such as The Chopra Center, HelpAge International, UNICEF, UNIFEM, the New York Academy of Medicine, HelpAge, and HEAL Africa. His commercial work has included editing spots for AMC, MTV, BVLGARI, RAG&BONE, H&M, VOGUE, CHLOE, TODS, JIMMY CHOO, GUCCI, KOHL’s, CARRERA, SAN PELLEGRINO, ESTÉE LAUDER, GUESS, and INTERVIEW MAGAZINE. He is a member of the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Indie Film,” and a recipient of a Sundance Institute / Sloan Foundation grant for his Cuba-based script ON THE LEFT. He has taught documentary filmmaking at Columbia University and all over Africa for organizations including Mira Nair’s MAISHA FILMLAB and Peter Gabriel’s WITNESS. Perlmutt holds a BA from Brown University with honors in Creative Writing and an MFA from Columbia University with honors in Film Directing.
Zelmira Gainza, Producer + Cinematographer
Zelmira Gainza is a British/Argentine cinematographer, producer and director. She grew up in London and moved to New York to pursue filmmaking, where she graduated from NYU with an MFA in film. She recently shot OKAY BREATHE AURALEE (Sundance 2012) and BURN TO SEND (Nestor Almendros Award for Excellence in Cinematography 2012). She served as director/writer/producer on THE POOL (Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay NYU First Run Festival 2011, National Board of Review Student Award.) She has shot films in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Burma, Argentina, Vietnam, Cuba and Abu Dhabi. She is currently based in New York.