THE PATHWAYS OF AISSA

a film by Rolando Díaz

You can download the Teaser here and photos here

Synopsis: Aissa is a young African born in Cameroon, who has lived since childhood in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain. Due to serious conflicts with his mother, she decided to leave her home. This separation generated a lot of pain and profound loneliness, up to the limit that she even attempted suicide.

But Aissa is also has a strong spirit; she is a lively fighter and has added to her life two great goals: try to get a place as a dancer in an African dance company and, most importantly: to restore the broken dialogue with her mother as soon as she is out of prison.

Rolando Diaz (Havana 1947) returns to so-called "cinema of reality" with The Pathways of Aissa (2014), a heart-breaking story in its simplicity, that faces the problem of the immigration from an intimate point of view, exploring the pain and emotional schism that, in any culture, means broken apart families, separation and and loss of identity.

Diaz has written and directed eight feature films among which the docudrama Si me comprendieras (1999) stands out as it took part in the Forum Section of the Berlin Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival and Amsterdam International Film Festival. His feature film Melodrama (1995) was also selected by the Forum in Berlin and the Toronto Film Festival. Both films were premiered at Lincoln Center in New York City.

His first feature film Los pájaros tirándole a la escopeta (1984) was awarded at festivals in London, Havana, Cartagena and Harare, among others. He has directed more than twenty documentaries, including El largo viaje de Rústico (1994), nominee to the Goya Spanish Cinema Awards, and eighty editions of Latin American ICAIC News, included in the list of UNESCO: Memory of the World.