The debut feature film by young director Carlos Machado Quintela was
described by specialists and critics as a bold and unusual proposal that
moves away from the common language of the national film industry.

Three children, one with Down syndrome, one with walking difficulties, a
third party that for unknown reasons refuses to talk, and a teenager with
only one leg, along with a apathetic coach, spend a summer day in a pool,
an excuse to tell that story which is much more focused on the emotions
than on a linear description of events.

Rodrigo (Felipe Garcia), Diana (Monica Molinet), Oscar (Carlos Javier
Martinez), Dany (Marcos Costa) and Esteban (Raul Capote) interact in a
film that does not care about winning over the audience with simplistic
formulas, but shows how human interactions are: raw, questionable and with
no makeup.

It was spontaneous, says Abel Arcos, writer and founder of the project,
which won the Film Making Award of the Seventh Exhibition of Young
Filmmakers in 2008.

The director agreed that was a team effort, where each one provided its
views to enrich the story and introduced ideas and dialogues while the
shooting was moving ahead.

“The film takes place in an unconventional tempo, because I was much more
interested in showing the natural relationship between actors thatn
winning over the public,” he said.

Referring to the casting, the filmmaker insisted that they were chosen not
by experience or training, but for what they were able to do in front of
the camera, if it is convincing or not.

“If you take a good look, Machado Quintela said, people themselves are
there, there are no roles to play, because I really tried that each of
them resembles his/her character and I hope that is reflected in the film.

La Piscina, with awards such as the distinction of Risk and Artistic
Search in the Eleventh Exhibition of Young Filmmakers and Cuban
Association of Writers and Artists in the 33 International Festival New
Latin American Cinema is exhibited from Wednesday at the Chaplin movie
theatre in Havana and in the national premiere circuit from week next.