PRODUCTION COMPANY
Abejas Productions was founded in 2014 as a single owner LLC by Margaux Ouimet for the purpose of producing her independent documentary, Walking the Cuban Tightrope, in Quebec, Canada.
Since childhood, Margaux has had a special connection with Cuban people, as her father sponsored athletes from Cuba. These family friends would fill the Montreal home with warmth and laughter. And the smell of good Cuban cigars… As a Canadian, Margaux has had the freedom to travel to Cuba often. She had “long wanted to do a film about the Cuban people, with a pressing question in mind based on my affection for the Cubans I know: are Cubans intelligent, inventive, satirical and amicable because of the Castro Regime, or in spite of it? I found part of the answer in José Martí. Martí’s role in Cuban education is central. As soon as I discovered that the lyrics of Guantanamera were from poems by José Martí, I immediately headed to Beacon, NY, to interview Pete Seeger who had held the rights to the song for a long time. Filmmaker colleagues drove down with me from Montreal to film a stage performance of the famous song, and what would be Pete’s last filmed interview during his lifetime.”
In 2013, Margaux Ouimet went to Havana to do some preliminary shooting for Walking the Cuban Tightrope. She was excited by what she was able to film, and returned to Montreal to propose the project to a Producer. Three different producers were eagerly interested. Not one of them was able to bring a local broadcaster on board. Consequently, the film was not eligible for funding from public cultural agencies. So, Ouimet launched a crowdfunding campaign and raised $13,650.CAD from “friend funders”.
Margaux Ouimet invested her own time and the film took 11 years to make, with many, many challenges to overcome. In 2024, the NFB’s FAP Program came in with some services for the online, and the online edit was finished thanks to Patrick Clune of Digital Cut, in September, 2024.
Walking the Cuban Tightrope is being distributed in non-commercial markets in the US by Bullfrog Films.
Please address queries and comments by e-mail in the CONTACT section.
Walking the Cuban Tightrope (2024)
“Beautifully filmed and powerfully evocative... This film is at once uplifting, wistful, and ominous… it illuminates the vibrancy of Cuban society and culture today.”
Walking The Cuban Tightrope (2024) is a 52-min independent documentary film, a love poem to the Cuban people, to their artistic soul and their relentless struggle for freedom and dignity. From early childhood, Director Margaux Ouimet has had ties to Cuban family friends. In this film, four powerful and diverse protagonists take us on an engaging and troubling journey through Cuba’s historical and present-day struggles, guided by the principles set out by national hero, poet and abolitionist, José Martí (1853-1895) – specifically in his essay Mi raza/My race. History is presented as lively storytelling by Dr. Lillian Guerra, Human rights struggles are embodied by Lawyer Laritza Diversent as well as activist rappers, putting their safety on the line in both cases. Award-winning exiled political cartoonist, Ramsés illustrates the high wire tensions of life in Cuba. The saga of the popular anthem, Guantanamera whose lyrics were penned by José Martí, is brought to life in Santiago de Cuba by musicologist Ismaël Rodriguez Reyte, and in Beacon-on-the-Hudson, by legendary protest singer Pete Seeger and his grandson Tao.
Directed by Margaux Ouimet
Produced by Margaux Ouimet
Camera: Javier Peréz
Editor: Margaux Ouimet
Animation: Kamila Pazgan
Original Music: Nestor Rodriguez
Narrator: Margaux Ouimet
Executive Producer: Robbie Hart
Production: An Abejas Production Film
Run time: 52mins
“Enjoyable and insightful, Walking the Cuban Tightrope uses the life of José Martí and the ideas expressed in Versos Sencillos as a point of entry into complex issues surrounding Cuban society. Topics explored include the revolution against Spain, ongoing international tensions with the United States, racism, and limitations on freedom of speech, religion, and artistic expression experienced by the population today.”
“Through a variety of voices, Margaux Ouimet’s film is a valuable and balanced evaluation of today’s Cuba. The film reviews Cuba’s history and its relationship to the United States since Colonial times and is framed by quotes from José Martí and by beautiful traditional Cuban songs. Ouimet’s use of time tells Cuba’s sad story vividly. By the end, the viewer learns that all of the Cuban voices in this film are now exiled as well. Walking the Cuban Tightrope is an excellent account of Cuba’s history up to the present days.”
“Walking the Cuban Tightrope is a thoughtful documentary on the continued influence of the legacy of José Martí in Cuba and outside of Cuba. There is exciting footage of activists like Pete Seeger and political creatives like Ramsés Morales Izquierdo that will delight viewers, alongside critical commentary from community leaders and scholars. This film will leave you wanting more and will prompt viewers to read more Martí to further understand how his visionary writing still resonates today.”
“Walking the Cuban Tightrope offers no simple answers to Cuba’s immense challenges. Instead, it exists within the spaces of precarity that so many Cubans find themselves in today. To tell their stories, the documentary carefully parses through the contested legacy of poet/philosopher/national hero José Martí. Each of the documentary’s four protagonists carefully examine his legacy through personal anecdotes that powerfully connect Cuba’s current moment with its violent colonial and revolutionary past. Through interviews, candid footage, and music drawn from Martí’s poetry, Walking the Cuban Tightrope highlights the urgency of remediating Martí’s legacy to save a nation precariously perched between a difficult past and an uncertain future.”
“In a frank and refreshingly candid manner, Walking the Cuban Tightrope examines the lived reality of the Cuban people and the ongoing censorship, repression and violation of human rights on the island. Pointing out the tensions, contradictions and ironies that exist regarding the Cuban people’s quest to achieve José Martí’s liberatory vision of an egalitarian society on the one hand, and a history - as Lillian Guerra so aptly observes - that has yet to be fulfilled, Ouimet’s film puts into relief Cuban theorist Antonio Benítez-Rojo’s concept of the paradoxical and deeply complex nature of the Caribbean.”