Still from "Mafifa", courtesy of Habanero Films
Activity
Wednesday May 21, 2025
Mafifa, by Daniela Muñoz
Memory Is a Shattered Landscape: Independent Cuban Film Series
Daniela Muñoz journeys to the east of the island in search of the spirit of Mafifa, one of the few women to succeed in the male-dominated conga scene of Santiago de Cuba.
Mafifa played the conga bell, an instrument the documentary maker can no longer hear because of her hypoacusis. The camera pursues the ghost of the musician in every face and every body contorted by the dance or by sadness, in every forgotten corner, which she records meticulously. Mafifa (2021) guides us through a disappearing territory which clings as best it can to its fragile memory.The film-maker Daniela Muñoz Barroso has gradually been losing her hearing and can hardly hear higher frequencies. She uses her eyes not only to see, but also to listen. However, Barroso has developed a fascination for Gladys Esther Linares, alias Mafifa, a woman musician who played the conga bell, a metal percussion instrument widely used in Cuban conga. Mafifa died forty years ago, and Daniela goes in search of the mark she made on Santiago de Cuba. The further she goes in her search, the more Mafifa becomes a mirror of her own fears.
Presentation and Q&A conducted by the artist Coco Fusco and José Luis Aparicio, curator of the film series.
19:00 – 19:15 h
Introduction by José Luis Aparicio, curator of the cycle Memory is a Shattered Landscape.
19:15 – 20:35 h
Screening of Mafifa, Daniela Muñoz Barroso, 2021, Cuba, OV, 77’, digital screening.
20:35 – 21:00 h
Post-screening discussion with Coco Fusco, artist of the exhibition I’ve Learned to Swim on Dry Land, and José Luis Aparicio.
this activity is part of
participants
José Luis Aparicio 
Coco Fusco 
Daniela Muñoz
artists
3 artists
From May 23, 2025 to January 11, 2026