Tania Libre

In December 2014, internationally appreciated artist Tania Bruguera announced her intention to provide an open, uncensored platform for citizens in Havana to freely express their views in public for one minute. Before the performance took place, she was arrested. After three consecutive detentions, Bruguera was held for treason and her passport was revoked. Her imprisonment lasted eight months. Within days of her release she returned to the United States and visited noted psychiatrist Dr. Frank Ochberg, founding father of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Stockholm Syndrome to acquire the skills necessary to process the invasive infringement wrought by the paranoid machinery of the people’s dictatorship, including the revocation of her right to practice her art. Their intimate and profound conversation shows how film can become a medium of empathy. It reveals the relationship of the artist to her family that mirrors the subversive surveillance culture that many Cubans encounter in their daily life. Perhaps as a result, within a few months Tania Bruguera created the Hannah Arendt Institute for Art and Activism in Havana, Cuba and declared her candidacy for President of Cuba in 2018.


Berlinale 2017: 10 Films to Look Out For

"Cuban artist Tania Bruguera made the mistake of conceiving a piece of performance art that was critical of her government, and spent six months in prison for her troubles. Tania Libre is a haunting documentary that showcases parts of the performance in question, along with Bruguera coming to terms with the consequences of creating such an incendiary piece of art. Tilda Swinton lends her soothing and yet scrutinizing tones as the narrator."



‘Their film is about Cuba but has lessons for anyone anywhere dealing with the loss of civil liberties." -Jori Finkel



-Oliver Johnston