Chico & Rita

Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal, Tono Errando / Spain, United Kingdom / 2012 / 94 min

  • Academy Award® Nominee 2012

    Best Animation Movie

  • Goya Award®

    Best Animated Feature

  • European Film Awards

    Best Animated Feature 2012

  • Annie Awards Nominee 2012

    Best Film

  • Toronto International Film Festival

    Official Selection

  • Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film

    Any Movie Category Price

  • Anima Festival at Brussels

    Best Feature Length Film
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Spanish and English with English subtitles

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.

Cuba, 1948. Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is 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. With an original soundtrack by legendary Cuban pianist and five-time Grammy®-winning composer Bebo Valdés, Chico & Rita captures a defining moment in the evolution of history and jazz, and features the music of (and animated cameos by) Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Cole Porter, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Tito Puente, Chano Pozo, and others.

Press

“A Love-Story for the Ages! By turns wistful, passionate, indignant and melancholy, this is an exquisitely composed piece of storytelling.” – THE INDEPENDENT

“Four Stars! Hispanic Art Deco Meets The Triplets of Belleville. The music is a splurge of euphony, featuring classics from Woody Herman, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.” – FINANCIAL TIMES

“Sexy, Sunny and Sweet-Natured! A Wonderfully Passionate Film!” – THE GUARDIAN

“Swaying, snake-hipped Latin music from Bebo Valdés, Tito Puente and others reinforces the languid, sensual mood! Four Stars! Magnificent! Delicious! Ravishing!” – THE TELEGRAPH

“Exuberant! Breathtakingly Beautiful! A visually hypnotic, musically electric film! It’s a pleasure to surrender to the movie’s lush visuals!” – THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

“Beautiful! A Swaying, Sexy, Dream of a Movie!... The year’s best musical and one of the year’s finest animated films!... Utterly delightful! An affecting, funny, historically accurate and at times pleasingly erotic story of the on-again, off-again love affair between Chico, a Cuban jazz pianist and composer, and the feisty Cuban chanteuse Rita.” – THE OBSERVER

About the Director
Fernando Trueba is a multi-award-winning writer, director and producer. The Age Of Beauty (Belle Epoque), starring Penelope Cruz, won both the Oscar® and BAFTA for Best Foreign Language Film. Trueba’s last film The Dancer And The Thief (El baile de la victoria) was Spain’s submission to the 2010 Academy® Awards, and received 10 Goya® Academy Award nominations.

It was with Trueba’s Latin jazz documentary Calle 54 that he began his collaboration and friendship with Javier Mariscal. Mariscal is an artist and designer based in Barcelona. His design, Cobi, was chosen as the official mascot of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He wrote and directed the animated television series The Cobi Troup and co-directed Chico & Rita. Mariscal’s brother Tono Errando worked as a director of commercials and music videos before directing the popular animated television series Twipsy.

Notes on Film

Six years ago Javier Mariscal and Fernando Trueba had the dream of working together on an animated film. Latin jazz was the seed of their friendship and that path led to Chico & Rita, Cuba, the music of Bebo Valdés and a passionate love story. Chico & Rita is a dashing bolero rhythm, with a beautiful and sexy singer, Rita, and a talented pianist, Chico, meeting in Havana and New York in the forties and fifties, a soundtrack and a vibrant dazzling succession of images.