Co-directed with Tono Errando and Javier Mariscal, Trueba’s Academy Award-nominated foray into animation tells a broad and moving tale of the promising, if tumultuous, lives of two musicians struggling to emerge in late Forties Cuba, loosely based on the true story of Bebo Valdés. After seeing her sing in a nightclub, pianist Chico forms a romantic and professional duo with Rita that is soon the toast of Havana. An offer to perform in New York takes Rita out of Cuba and away from Chico, setting off a chain of events that will lead the couple to make up, break up, and make up again as their dual careers take them to Paris, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles, from backstreet cabarets to Hollywood movie studios. Trueba and co-director Mariscal (who had designed the poster for Calle 54) had discussed and planned an animated feature for ten years; much of the visual design, especially of the Havana section, is based off of period photographs.

In French, Spanish, and English; with English subtitles