Livin La Vida LA, CA
One ticket to paradise please!

Boleta al Paraiso (Ticket to Paradise)
dir by Gerardo Chijona

The only Cuban film at this year’s festival, Ticket to Paradise is a difficult to describe. A group of wayward Cuban youths, led by the deliciously jailbait Alejandro, are left to fend for themselves on the streets of Havana. Alejandro figures out a way to get the group three square meals a day, free room and board, and all the comforts of home. His brilliant plan? To contract HIV and get into the government subsidized hospital. Sometimes beautiful, sometimes infuriating, this movie exposes a dark street logic that is not always comfortable to look at.