British filmmaker Paul Dugdale has worked with music industry superstars such as The Prodigy, Adele and The Rolling Stones, and today he let on that he would also like to collaborate with Cuban artists.
The documentary maker talked to Prensa Latina while in Cuba to screen his film The Rolling Stones: Havana Moon, about the concert with which “Their Satanic Majesties” concluded their Latin American Olé Tour last March.
“There’s nothing official, but Cuban artists have approached me and have shown interest”, acknowledged Dugdale, who attended the 38th Havana International Film Festival, thanks to the collaboration of British Council with the event.
Dugdale screened his film last night to an audience which still remembers—and will hardly forget—the Stones’ mega-concert in Havana: according to the organizers, more than a million people gathered for the historic performance.
“Not even the Stones, with more than 50 years performing all over the world, were expecting such a reaction; it was even surprising for the roadies. The atmosphere was simply electric”, evoked Dugdale.
There were moments in which everything hung by a thread, since the visit of US President Barack Obama forced to postpone the concert, but in the end it worked out even better than they expected, maintained the filmmaker.
“It was exhausting and logistically complicated, but the concert in Havana gave us the finale that the film needed. That is, had we not been able to film here, the movie would have had no ending”, he pointed out.
The film’s title is taken from one of the old rock-and-roll songs who used to come out of the room of guitarist Keith Richards, whose extravagances also add flavor to the film, although Dugdale says everyone in the band was very helpful.
“They were very natural, they committed themselves to the film and they were patient in complicated moments, such as when we were shooting with the Muñequitos de Matanzas at the private restaurant La Guarida. They are world stars, but they weren’t prima donnas”, he pointed out.
Critics and audiences have given a warm welcome to Havana Moon, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and to Dugdale, its screening in Cuba very nearly a year after the project was green-lit seems an ideal close.
“We knew that Cuba was a very strong place for the arts, but watching thousands and thousands of people running into the grounds where the Stones performed was surprising for everyone, and one of the most powerful images in the film”, he concluded.