LOS ÚLTIMOS FRIKIS
A film by Nicholas Brennan
(USA/Cuba, 2019, 75 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
Los Últimos Frikis tells the story of Zeus, Cuba’s hard-rocking, state-sponsored heavy metal band as they embark on their first national tour at a time when new historic changes sweep across the country, forcing the band to confront their biggest fear: silence. When the heavy metal band first formed in Havana in the eighties, rock music was illegal on the Caribbean island, and rockers were derisively called “los frikis”—the freaks. Fidel Castro’s Communist government saw rock-and-roll as a capitalist threat: Concerts were broken up, vinyl records were destroyed, and long-haired “frikis” were thrown in jail. Lead singer Diony Arce spent six years in prison at the height of his career. Today, Zeus is part of the system, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture’s Agency of Rock. The government that once silenced these Frikis now pays their salaries and promotes them around the country. These grey-haired rockers traded in their rebellion for the chance to perform openly to crowds across the island. But at what cost?
Now streaming on Topic.
Watch the trailer:
