VIDEO: PBS to Debut LETTERS TO ELOISA José Lezama Lima Documentary

Told through the haunting letters written by the acclaimed Cuban writer José Lezama Lima to his sister living in exile in Mexico, Letters to Eloísa tells the remarkable story of one of Latin America's most revered writers.

A film by Adriana Bosch, Letters to Eloisa features Alfred Molina as THE VOICE of Lezama and music by Arturo Sandoval. The film premieres as part of Latino Public Broadcasting's VOCES on Friday, October 15, 2021, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET.

Weaving together the public and the private, the literary and the political, the film reveals how Lezama's voice, at first amplified by the revolution's cultural policies, was ultimately silenced by the absence of creative freedom in Cuba during its most tumultuous decades.

With the publication of Paradiso, Lezama clashed with the government's virulent homophobia that included the separation of thousands from their careers. Homosexuals were even interned in concentration camps-the infamous UMAPs-where they were subjected to forced "rehabilitation" that included hard labor and even physical torture, as recent research has revealed. A closeted homosexual, Lezama avoided the worst of the repression. But his book provoked a scandal unprecedented in Cuban literature and was temporarily removed from bookstores.

Letters to Eloisa is produced and directed by Adriana Bosch. María Burés is co-producer and director of recreations. The film is edited by Julio Rodríguez and Mario Venerio and Carlos Alvarez, Tim Cragg, Alfredo de Lara and Roberto Pérez Chile served as cinematographers.

Watch the trailer here: