Musica!

The Oscar-winning filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman have become treasured musicologists, first with their loving biography Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice (2019) and then with Taylor Mac's 24-Decade History of Popular Music (2022). Now, they turn their cameras towards Cuba, profiling four students at the Amadeo Roldan Conservatory. Though it has long been the nation’s most prestigious music school in a music-crazy nation, the conservatory struggles to maintain instruments for their students. Enter Horns for Havana, a New York-based initiative that brings parts and instrument-repair expertise to the island. Epstein and Friedman spent four years following four recipients of Horns from Havana instruments: Kevin, Lili, Rodrigo and Dariana. Though they come from widely divergent backgrounds, each shares a driving ambition to grow as a musician, even as daily life in Cuba becomes more challenging. (Telluride Film Festival)