VIVA stars Héctor Medina as Jesus, a young hairdresser working at a Havana nightclub that showcases drag performers, who dreams of being a performer himself.

Encouraged by his mentor, Mama (Luis Alberto García), Jesus finally gets his chance to take the stage. But when his estranged father Angel (Jorge Perugorría) abruptly reenters his life, his world is quickly turned upside down.

As father and son clash over their opposing expectations of each other, VIVA becomes a story of family and love as the men struggle to understand one another and reconcile.

VIVA was a hit at the 2015 Telluride Film Festival and the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and was Ireland’s entry for the 2015 Best Foreign Film Academy Award.

Official film site: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlR8W4xMLVk

“Hector Medina is a young performer with soulful eyes and an uncanny ability to seem both masculine and feminine. He rivets our attention during every moment of Jesus’ tortured journey to self-realization. Luis Alberto Garcia as the solicitous Mama exudes seen-it-all wisdom. JorgePerugorria, who played a gay character in the early Cuban classic Strawberry and Chocolate, finds the reserves of tenderness and regret hiding beneath the brutal exterior of Angel. But all of the performances in this film are pitch perfect. Oscar winning actor Benicio Del Toro served as the film’s executive producer.” – Stephen Farber, The Hollywood Reporter