Actor and activist Lily Cole talks about the film she made with her partner Kwame Ferreira and dancer Carlos Acosta:

“In 2012 I was making a documentary with artist Gabriel Orozco, who invited me to go to Cuba to help him clean up an old school for an installation. I nearly made the trip, but with a twinge of remorse wasn’t able to at the last minute. 

“Years later after watching my friend Carlos Acosta perform at the Royal Opera House, we went for a drink and he began to tell me about an old ruin of a ballet school in Cuba that he dreamed of turning into a functioning ballet academy and performance space. I immediately visualized him dancing in the ruins and suggested we film him there. 

"In 2015 we made the trip to Cuba to see the school Carlos was trying to restore. The building is one of a complex of five structures commissioned by Fidel Castro and built in the 1960s and ’70s for the arts. When the ballet school was a few weeks from completion, a mix of economic and political factors meant it was never opened. 

“Looking around its utopian archways I was reminded of the circular Observatory House Orozco built in Mexico. I later discovered this building in Cuba was the same school he had invited me to visit several years before—I was fatefully drawn into its path by different means! 

“I found a King of Diamonds playing card at the school that day and pledged to return and make the film with Carlos, which I did with my partner Kwame—our young baby in tow—in 2016. We hope this little film captures the beauty of the building and helps Carlos on his journey to restore it."