A dancer’s dream to start a new life doesn’t come as expected in this very riveting and emotional film from Kaveh Nabatian.

Leo is an Afro-Cuban ballet dancer who is struggling in his native Cuba along with his layer girlfriend Sara. The two dreams of life outside their homeland and to start a new free life. They soon hatch a plan at an attempt to achieve that dream. The plan is for Leo to meet a visiting tourist and charm his way to bring him to their home as a start.

They soon find a target in an Iranian-Canadian woman named Nasim. Nasim is a divorcee who is under constant pressure from her family, who have been on her since the divorce. When she meets Leo, they are instantly attracted and soon enough, he gets his ticket to Canada. There, he begins to go to audition for various dance shows. However, his style and look always give him the short end of the stick. However, he doesn’t give up and soon enough, things between Nasim and Leo are about to become extremely complicated when Sara makes her way to see Leo again.

Described as Dirty Dancing meets White Nights, this drama from Kaveh Nabatian displays a very complicated love triangle while giving a message about how far one will go to achieve their dreams. The story of a ballet dancer’s scheme to leave his country for a new life only to find things complicated as his old promise comes as well sounds like an interesting concept and thanks to the performances of the three leads, this is a film that definitely will stand the test of time.

Real-life ballet dancer Yonah Acosta is excellent in the role of Leo, a dancer who wants to prove his mettle outside his native Cuba but knows it is not going to be as easy. While his girlfriend Sara, played by Evelyn Castroda O’Farrell, is the one who comes up with the scheme of finding a pawn, she finds her life complicated as well with spending most of the film in Cuba while Leo tries to get her overseas. It is clear that in some respect, Leo may love Sara, but at the same time he is more interested in his career as well as his determination to become a big dancer does have its price.

Kudos goes out to the third part of the triangle, Aki Yaghoubi as Nasim. Nasim finds herself already in a dilemma as her divorce is seen as a sin through the eyes of her family. We see her struggle as she is constantly berated by her family, especially when she makes the decision to help Leo come to Canada. The ones who care about know suspect Leo isn’t there for her but she ignores their warnings. That is, until a shocking twist occurs that leads to an even bigger twist in the story that has the potential to change the lives of these three forever.

Sin La Habana is a very emotional rollercoaster involving both a love triangle and the price one may end up paying when they try to start a new life and things get complicated. Yonah Acosta, Aki Yaghoubi, and Evelyn Castroda O’Farrell are excellent in their roles and are definitely faces to look out. One of the must see indie films of the year.

WFG RATING: A

Breaking Glass Pictures presents a Voyelles Films production. Director: Kaveh Nabatian. Producers: Meniac Raoul and Gabrielle Tougas-Frechette. Writer: Kaveh Nabatian. Cinemtography: Juan Pablo Ramirez. Editing: Sophie Leblond.

Cast: Yonah Acosta, Aki Yaghoubi, Evelyn Castroda O’Farrell, Arthur Holden.