A road runs close to the Havana coastline. Colorful blue, green, and yellow cars and buildings dot the city.

¡Quba!

Kim Anno 2024 1:10:27 Min Spanish English Open Captions Cuba

¡Quba! introduces us to Adela Hernandez, Cuba’s first transgender government official, and El Mejunje, the cultural hub where art and performance are rewriting what Cuban society can look like.

View Screening

Synopsis

Against the backdrop of Havana's sun-drenched streets and shimmering coastline, "¡Quba!" blazes a trail through Cuba's LGBTQ revolution. At its heart stands Adela Hernandez, a trailblazing trans politician who rose from the dark days of UMAP imprisonment to become the first transgender person in Cuba's government. Alongside her, the charismatic Ramon Silverio transforms his cultural haven El Mejunje into ground zero for change, taking his rainbow-colored caravan of artists and performers deep into the countryside to challenge prejudice through the universal language of art. As archival footage reveals how machismo and religious bigotry cast a long shadow over the queer community but then a new generation of firebrands - Las Isabellas and Ulises Suarez - picks up the torch, and charges toward the historic 2022 marriage equality victory that would finally let love win in revolutionary Cuba.

Contra el telón de fondo de las calles bañadas por el sol de La Habana y su costa resplandeciente, "¡Quba!" abre camino a través de la revolución LGBTQ de Cuba. En su centro se encuentra Adela Hernandez, una política trans pionera que se elevó desde los oscuros días de encarcelamiento en la UMAP hasta convertirse en la primera persona transgénero en el gobierno cubano. Junto a ella, el carismático Ramon Silverio transforma su refugio cultural El Mejunje en el epicentro del cambio, llevando su caravana multicolor de artistas y performers hasta lo más profundo del campo para desafiar los prejuicios a través del lenguaje universal del arte. Mientras las imágenes de archivo exponen cómo el machismo y los prejuicios religiosos proyectaron sombras asfixiantes sobre la comunidad queer, surge una nueva generación de revolucionarios - Las Isabellas y Ulises Suarez - para reavivar la llama de la revolución. Juntos, lideran una marcha imparable hacia la histórica victoria de la igualdad matrimonial en 2022 que finalmente permitiría que el amor triunfara en la Cuba revolucionaria.

Screenings

ENCORE: Land and Resistance

Watch anytime between September 11-21. Three films. Three places where tradition lives in the body and the voice. Dené women reviving centuries-old hide-tanning practices. An Afro-Colombian trans leader…

Friday, September 11, 2026
View Screening Details
Online Encore ENCORE: Land and Resistance

Land and Resistance

FEATURED SCREENING: Three films. Three places where tradition lives in the body and the voice.

Saturday, June 13, 4:00 PM - 6:15 PM
View Screening Details
In-person Land and Resistance

Content Warnings

Homophobia Transphobia

Specific Themes

Activism Community Latine/Latinx Organizing Politics Queerness Sexual orientation

Credits

Director
Kim Anno
Screenwriter
Kim Anno
Producer
Kyung Lee, Julia Robertson
Cast
Adela Hernandez

About Filmmaker(s)

Kim Anno is a painter, photographer, and film/video artist born in Los Angeles whose work has been collected and exhibited by museums nationally and internationally. Her work is in the intersection of art, science history, and societal dilemma surrounding climate change, and adaptation. In 2024, she received a Guggenheim foundation award. IN 2023, received a US dept of State fellowship for her new project, Water Cities, Indonesia. Her painting exhibitions and screenings include: University of Suffolk, England, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, New Media Festivals, Seoul, Korea, Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Tokyo park, Japan, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, Goethe Institute in Johannesburg, the Durban Municipal Gallery, South Africa in the "Don't Panic Exhibition", Flux Projects, Marcia Atlanta, Marcia Wood Gallery, San Francisco Asian Art Museum, “Godzilla” Eric Firestone Gallery NY, Site Santa Fe Biennale: One Night Stand in New Mexico, Varnosi Museum in Hungary, and DC Dusseldorf. Awards include: Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation Purchase Award, SFMOMA & Honolulu Museum of Art, Eureka Foundation's Fleishhaker Fellowship, Open Circle Award Berkeley Film Foundation. Recently produced, SF Airport public art commission 2021: “Long Arc of Day;”2022 Holt Resident Artist, Stanford University, solo exhibition in Coulter Gallery. In 2023, a monograph and solo exhibition by Anno was presented by Anglim/Trimble Gallery, San Francisco and in 2024 she will release her first documentary feature film: “¡Quba!” and “Water Cities, Kalimantan”, Indonesia.

Trailer Releases