During 60-plus years of political, social and technological isolation, the people of Cuba have relied on their own inventions to create the necessities for everyday life. A feature-length documentary that has begun production, Making It in Cuba is looking to bring viewers into the workshops, garages, studios and kitchens of Cuba’s most ingenious 21st-century Makers—for a glimpse at the sophistication and scope of the amazing self-sufficient culture they continue to create.
“We want to tell the incredible stories of these Cuban Makers who continually find a way to progress and excel despite severely limited resources,” says the film's director Levi C. Maaia, a UCSB Gevirtz School alumnus and former Santa Barbara high school teacher who has been exploring the intersections of technology and education for more than a decade. “These Makers epitomize the indomitable nature of the human spirit. This is in a place still experiencing extreme shortages of food and energy sources, and where most people still don’t have regular access to the internet.
Making It in Cuba focuses on the remarkable capacity of these Makers to create simple solutions for complex challenges through innovation, improvisation and adaptation. Stories that sparked the idea of the film include:
- An artist/musician whose passion led him to found and develop a community “art factory” that is a bona fide hub of culture in Havana.
- An engineer, using a homebrew digital radio transmitter made from surplus electronics, who has connected with other amateur radio operators around the world in over 100 countries—via an ad-hoc network that compensates for the lack of reliable internet service.
- Computer gamers who have created their own peer-to-peer Wi-Fi networks to share games, files and resources across the city despite the absence of internet services.
- A surfboard shaper that sources unusual raw materials like refrigerator doors.
“Our Seed&Spark crowd-funding campaign will enable us to begin scouting at the beginning of 2020, while identifying the best stories for the film,” says executive producer Noah Mark, an award-winning writer, director and producer of countless series for broadcast and cable networks. Represented by ICM, his credits include hit series such as The Ultimate Fighter and Hell’s Kitchen.
“In Havana, we’ll also confer with filmmakers and producers and hire a local Cuban crew,” Mark adds, “which will further benefit the Makers and their community.”
Levi Maaia earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Education in 2018. He wrote the dissertation “The Keys to Maker Education: A Longitudinal Ethnographic Study of a STEM-to-STEAM Curriculum-in-the-Making.” Maaia has also been a telecommunications executive and a member of the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club’s board of directors.