Although Wim Wenders’ acclaimed documentary Buena Vista Social Club beautifully captured the moment when Omara Portuondo was “rediscovered” by the world, her story goes much deeper.
In the face of racism, misogyny, revolution and political controversies, Omara has used her music to connect with fans around the world in profound and sometimes unexpected ways, transcending borders while celebrating the soul of her beloved Cuba.
Following Omara to Tokyo, New York, and Havana, the film features interviews with such world-renowned musicians as Diego El Cigala, Roberto Fonseca, and Arturo O’Farrill. The film chronicles Omara’s beginnings as the daughter of a white, aristocratic mother and a Black father, at a time when such a union meant complete social ruin, to becoming a dancer at age 17 at the world-famous cabaret Tropicana. By her mid 20s, Omara was one of Cuba’s brightest young stars as part of the all-female Cuarteto d’Aida, touring extensively and opening for Nat King Cole.
Over the next several decades, Omara became a trailblazing advocate for Afro-Cuban women, already an icon before ever joining the Buena Vista Social Club and becoming synonymous with that worldwide sensation. With the new Tony-winner “Buena Vista Social Club” musical on Broadway, this powerful look at the real Omara could not be more timely.
VOCES “Omara: Cuba’s Legendary Diva” will stream simultaneously with broadcast and be available on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS app, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast, and VIZIO.
About Omara Portuondo
Born on October 29, 1930 in Havana, Omara Portuondo is a Cuban national treasure, beloved across generations, and one of the island nation’s most famous singers. Often compared to Billie Holiday and Edith Piaf for her emotion-filled ballads and boleros, Omara was born to Afro-Cuban baseball player Bartolo Portuondo and Esperanza Peláez, the daughter of a wealthy Havana family of Spanish ancestry. Her parents caused a scandal by eloping at a time when mixed-race marriages were not accepted. In 1947, at the age of seventeen, Omara began her career as a dancer at the famed nightspot Tropicana. She then started a duo with her sister Haydee and later forming the group Cuarteto d’Aida. The group had considerable success, touring the United States, performing with Nat King Cole at the Tropicana, and recording a 1957 album for RCA Victor. They sang in a style called Filin, Cuban in origin but heavily influenced by U.S. popular song fashions of the 1940s and 50s. The name is derived from the English word “feeling” and describes a style of jazz-influenced romantic crooning.
In 1996, Omara became part of the Buena Vista Social Club project, performing at some of the world’s most celebrated venues including London’s Royal Albert Hall, Amsterdam’s Carré Theatre and New York’s Carnegie Hall and recording several albums with the ensemble. She was featured in the 1999 Buena Vista Social Club documentary directed by Wim Wenders and the current Tony Award winning Broadway musical “Buena Vista Social Club.” In 2005, Omara won the Billboard Award for Best Tropical Album of the year, and in 2009 took home a Latin Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Tropical Album. In 2019, Omara was presented with a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for contributions to Latin American and world music. She has been nominated for three additional Grammy Awards and was awarded the Order of the Sun, Japan’s highest honor to a noncitizen for her work in promoting a cultural exchange between Cuba and Japan.
Director Hugo Perez on the Genesis of the Film
After nearly two decades of producing and directing projects for others in Cuba, the United States and around the world, I was given a great opportunity to direct my first feature documentary with a Cuban subject. It came about, as many things do in Cuba, over cups of rich Cuban coffee in someone’s kitchen. The kitchen belonged to Omara Portuondo, and I was sitting with her son Ariel who, one Cuban son to another, asked if I would be interested in making a film about his mother. Challenge accepted.
It immediately occurred to me that I was being given a once in a lifetime chance to work with a great artist in the twilight of their career – imagine taking a time machine and going back in time to work with Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holliday in their later years. When we began, Omara was in her late eighties, and still touring extensively around the world. Yet despite the fact that she was still selling out venues across the globe, she was confronting ageism from promotors and journalists who only wanted to write about her “final tour.” I felt that there was an opportunity not just to create a portrait of an iconic artist, but to document how she responded to age bias with verve and panache and not just a little sauciness. Never count a Cuban woman down and out.
I also wanted to make a film that would show her in performance today, spotlighting songs that would help carry us through the story of her life. When she sings about love, Omara plumbs the depths of heartbreak, and I could not imagine telling her story without seeing her singing these great songs.
And so, the film born of a Cuban coffee break emerged as Omara, a portrait of a one-of-a-kind legendary artist.
About the Filmmakers
Hugo Perez (Director)
As a director, writer, and producer, Hugo Perez’s career has straddled documentary, narrative and branded storytelling. Perez produced Once Upon a Time in Uganda, a SXSW competition documentary which premiered theatrically in 2023. He recently served as writer on John Leguizamo’s American Historia, and director for PBS Kids’ Alma’s Way: My Way live action broadcast shorts. Perez served as editor and co-writer for Elliot Page and Ian Daniel’s feature documentary directorial debut There’s Something in the Water, which world premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and was released on Netflix in 2020. Other credits include editor, co-producer, and co-writer on the feature documentary Island of Baseball, about Cuba’s role in integrating Major League Baseball; producer, director, and co-editor of Neither Memory Nor Magi, a feature documentary that explores the life, work, and legacy of the Hungarian poet Miklos Radnoti; producer and director of the PBS documentary Summer Sun Winter Moon; and executive producer and co-writer of Rodrigo Reyes’ feature documentary Purgatorio.
Perez has studied storytelling with Gabriel Garcia Marquez, collaborated with Pulitzer prize-winning novelist William Kennedy, and served as a guest artist for acclaimed theater director and artist Robert Wilson. He is in currently production on a feature documentary on Latino icon Ricardo Montalban with support from Latino Public Broadcasting. He was the recipient of the prestigious 2009 Estela Award for Documentary Filmmaking presented by NALIP – the National Association of Latino Independent Producers.
Dana Kuznetzkoff (Producer) has produced or managed such diverse projects as HBO’s pilot episode for Boardwalk Empire to their acclaimed series The Wire, and NBC’s Smash. With Doug Liman, she produced the first major scripted series designed specifically for 360-degree virtual reality, Invisible. Most recently, as the head of production for Disarming Films, Kuznetzkoff was a producer on the final episode of HBOs The Case Against Adnad Syed, directed by Amy Berg, and It’s Never, Over, Jeff Buckley.
The former head of media at Avex International, Kuznetzkoff made her Broadway debut as part of the producing teams for the Tony nominated John Leguizamo’s Latin History for Morons and Pretty Woman, The Musical. She is a Collaborating Artist for the Roundabout Theatre’s Reverb Festival and is a member of the Producers Council of the Producers Guild of America, NY Women in Film and Television and the Directors Guild of America. She is on the advisory boards of the Writers Guild of America East Made in New York Writers Room and The Hollywood International Film Academy in Beijing, China.
About VOCES
Produced by Latino Public Broadcasting, the acclaimed PBS documentary series VOCES features the best of Latino arts, culture and history and shines a light on current issues that impact Latino Americans. Devoted to exploring the rich diversity of the Latino experience, VOCES presents new and established filmmakers and brings their powerful and illuminating stories to a national audience — on TV, online and on the PBS app. Luis Ortiz is series producer; Sandie Viquez Pedlow is executive producer. Funding for VOCES is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS. Follow us on Facebook and X.
About Latino Public Broadcasting
For over 25 years, Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB) has been developing award-winning film and digital media that explores the history, arts and culture of Latino Americans, bringing these powerful and illuminating stories to a national audience on PBS — on TV, online and on the PBS app.
LPB projects have spotlighted Latino contributions to the arts (Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined, John Leguizamo’s Road to Broadway, Raúl Julia: The World’s a Stage); told the story of Latino icons from Cesar Chavez to Dolores Huerta, Tito Puente to Celia Cruz, Ruben Salazar to Roberto Clemente; explored history and politics through a Latino lens (John Leguizamo’s American Historia, Latino Vote 2024); and told stories from Mexico, Puerto Rico and Latin America (Water for Life, Reportero), many as part of its signature PBS series VOCES.
LPB programs have won over 130 awards, including three prestigious George Foster Peabody Awards as well as Emmys, Imagen Awards and the Sundance Film Festival Award for Best Director, Documentary. LPB has been the recipient of the Norman Lear Legacy Award and the NCLR Alma Award for Special Achievement – Year in Documentaries. Sandie Viquez Pedlow is executive director of LPB; Edward James Olmos is co-founder and chairman.
Follow LPB on Facebook, X, YouTube and Instagram.
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Contact:
CaraMar Publicity
Mary Lugo 770 851 8190 lugo@negia.net
Cara White 843 881 1480 cara.white@mac.com
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