Havana Habibi is moving forward toward Completion! Please Support!!!!

havana habibi hatchfund video from joshua bee alafia on Vimeo.

Ten years of documenting the Cuban Belly Dance movement largely sparked by Tiffany "Hanan" Madera, is coming to a head as we prepare to document Hanan's arrival to see the fruition of her teachings; a Belly Dance school with over 100 students in Havana. Please support our fund drive with a tax deductable donation and help us make this film a reality! Whatever you can give brings us closer to our goal! Our deadline is January 31st!!!!!!!http://www.hatchfund.org/project/havana_habibi

We need your help to finish!

So now we're turning the corner in terms of finally getting this documentary out to the world. I've been working on the project since 2006. I've been witness to an incredible amount of transformation in Hanan, the dancers and myself in the process. Now, as the majority of the creative work has been done, we're in the business of finding a distributor. A producer has come on board who has shopped our ten minute teaser around and nobody is biting... the times have changed. Now we're expected to have a full bodied work to get a distributor to give us the finishing funds to smooth it out. So we're asking you for your support.... whatever you can give to support our editing a 55 minute version to shop to HBO, Magnolia Pictures, New Line...

Havana Habibi Teaser from joshua bee alafia on Vimeo.

you can send donations to:
Beeloved Creations
P.O. Box 1316
Old Chelsea Station
New York, NY 10113

or to our paypal account:

Than you so much! Your support will help further the transformations of the heartminds of souls who long to see this documentary!

How it all Began...

Havana Habibi
55min
A documentary by Joshua Bee Alafia

In 2003, Tiffany Madera aka “Hanan,” enraged her Cuban family in Miami by getting on a plane to Havana to participate in an artistic exchange that led to the formation of Cuba’s first Arabic dance troupe; Grupo Aisha Al-Hanan. The troupe founded by hanan was composed of eight women at the University of Havana’s History Department. A live band of musicians shortly followed from Havana’s colorful and diverse music scene. Guided by hanan, Grupo Aisha Al Hanan; quickly gained notoriety around Cuba despite its departure from State- Sanctioned Culture and Art models. A grassroots cultural movement ensued which had a profound impact on many lives across the globe.

For Hanan’s family, her returning to Cuba was like an act of support for the Communist Revolution that drove them from their island to Miami. Havana Habibi begins three years later following Hanan’s visit to Havana for the International Dance Festival and workshops with Grupo Aisha Al-Hanan. We meet the ensemble and see the sacrifices they make to create their art. Ana has to take a two hour commute to get to the rehearsals, Aissa battles financial straits and must forgo a bigger paycheck dancing cabaret salsa to dance with Aisha, and Hanan confronts personal demons, crumbling health and family dissonance to teach in Havana. We hear how bellydance has impacted the dancers’ and musicians’ lives and empowered them as people. Havana Habibi looks at the cross cultural exchange and intermigration between Africa, Cuba, Spain and the USA; what it means to be a Cuban Bellydancer in Revolutionary Cuba as well as the Cuban Diaspora and travels throughout time, geography and space to tell the human story behind Revolution and geo-political Identity through the sensual metaphor of Bellydance.