Transit Havana

Once a year, two plastic surgeons from Holland and Belgium fly to Havana to perform surgery on five transgendered Cuban nationals. The surgeons are invited by Mariela Castro, daughter of the president and head of the new state program for transgender care. Castro organizes this as a modern completion of the socialist revolution of 1959 because, in her words, it is all about emancipation and self-realization. ‘Homophobia no, socialismo si!’ is the official slogan.

The state helps transgender people with therapy, hormones, surgery, and a new identity. Is Cuba becoming a safe haven for trans people? For more than one year, filmmakers Daniel Abma and Alex Bakker followed the three main characters Odette, Juani, and Malú, and show how they deal with the reality of being transgendered in Cuba. As new heroes of the revolution they still face religious intolerance, discrimination, sexism, poverty, and often a life in prostitution. Meanwhile, they wait for the foreign surgeons to give them what they want most in life. Are their names among the five on this year‘s surgery list?

The documentary features the historic day when Presidents Castro and Obama suddenly announced new diplomatic relations, creating great expectations among the main characters. Transit Havana gives us a unique insight into the paradoxes of Cuba, showing the surprising side of an island in transition.