Key West Art & Historical Society Presents Award-Winning Film “Chico & Rita” at Custom House Museum

Oscar®-winning director Fernando Trueba (Belle Epoque, Calle 54) and Spain’s legendary illustrator Javier Mariscal's epic story of love, passion, and heartbreak, "Chico & Rita" will be screened at the Custom House Museum Thursday, January 7.
Oscar®-winning director Fernando Trueba (Belle Epoque, Calle 54) and Spain’s legendary illustrator Javier Mariscal’s epic story of love, passion, and heartbreak, “Chico & Rita” will be screened at the Custom House Museum Thursday, January 7.

On Thursday, January 7 at 6:00 pm, Key West Art & Historical Society will offer the 2012 Oscar-nominated animated film “Chico & Rita” – a story that illuminates a journey of the culture, the people, and the music that has influenced the world—in the Helmerich Research & Learning Center on the third floor of the Custom House Museum, 281 Front Street.

Oscar®-winning director Fernando Trueba (Belle Epoque, Calle 54) and Spain’s legendary illustrator Javier Mariscal celebrate their passion for the music and culture of Cuba with an epic story of love, passion, and heartbreak. Set in 1948, the film features Chico— a young piano player with big dreams, and Rita— a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and desire unite them as they chase their dreams and each other from Havana to New York to Paris, Hollywood and Las Vegas. The film captures a defining moment in the evolution of history and jazz, featuring the music of Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Cole Porter, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Tito Puente, Chano Pozo, and others.

The film will be followed by an informal talk by Marty Stonely, a Key West-based musician with two generations of musical ties to Cuba. Stonely will elucidate on the film’s extraordinary original soundtrack by legendary Cuban pianist and five-time Grammy®-winning composer Bebo Valdés as well as his own musical journey’s traversing the musical styles and stages of the Cuban music scene.

Praised by the Miami Herald as a film that “melds dazzling visuals and a wildly infectious score into a simple yet affecting love story,” “Chico & Rita” is part of the Society’s “Art as History, History as Art” film series, a new education program implemented to help use film as a touchstone into the history of our island and was selected to compliment the current Custom House exhibits, Rob O’Neal: Islands in the (Gulf) Stream, and Bars, Brews & Blues: A History of Carousing in Key West. “Our closest neighbor has impacted the Keys for generations, and the music tells the story that holds a mirror and the eternal hope of restoring and renewing our relationships,” says Michael Shields, Society board member and initiator of the new program.

Tickets for the event can be purchased online at KWAHS.ORG/LEARN: $5 for members, $10 for non-members. For more information about this and other programs please contact Adele Williams, Director of Education, at 305-295-6616, ext. 106.

IMAGE:Award-winning animated film “Chico & Rita” will be shown at the Custom House Museum on Thursday, January 7 at 6:00 pm as part of Key West Art & Historical Society’s “Art as History, History as Art” program. Tickets are limited and can be purchased at KWAHS.ORG.

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