They might have been called "The Jews that time forgot" - those who left Poland or Russia, Turkey or Yemen in the early 1900s, stopped in Cuba, and never made it to New York. Dubbed "Castro's Jews," they did not leave Cuba when they could and say they have been better treated in Cuba than anywhere else in the world. Today, like all Cubans, they are hungry. For the first time a film traces the history of the Jews in Cuba: their immigration in the early 1900s, the arrival of refugees fleeing Nazi Germany, life under Castro during the 1959 revolution, and the current resurgence of Jewish life. With a spicy soundtrack featuring a recording of HAVA NAGILA by the famous Cuban singer, Celia Cruz. First Prize, Jewish Video Competition. For more information, visit https://havananagila.net
Laura Paull (writer, director) is a Northern California writer and journalist. She has reported for The San Francisco Examiner, the Stanford News Service, and The Huffington Post, and J. the Jewish News of Northern California, where she also served as Culture Editor from 2018-2021.
Latin America and Latin Americans have been repeatedly interwoven in Ms. Paull’s personal and family history, as her Polish grandparerents first emigrated to Argentina, then to New York. In her 30's, after living in Colombia for several years, Paull earned a master’s degree in Latin American Studies from Stanford University. She wrote her thesis on the 1985 civil trial of the military junta in Argentina. "Havana Nagila," her first independent film, won the 1995 Magnes Award for Jewish Video.