Chico and Rita | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by |
Fernando Trueba Javier Mariscal Tono Errando |
Produced by | Santi Errando Cristina Huete Michael Rose Martin Pope |
Screenplay by | Fernando Trueba Ignacio Martínez de Pisón |
Story by | Fernando Trueba Ignacio Martínez de Pisón |
Starring | See Cast |
Music by | Bebo Valdés |
Edited by | Arnau Quiles |
Production
company |
Fernando Trueba PC
Estudio Mariscal Magic Light Pictures |
Distributed by |
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (Spain) GKIDS (North America) CinemaNX |
Release date
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Running time
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94 minutes |
Country | United States United Kingdom Canada France Spain Isle of Man Hungary Philippines |
Language | Spanish English French |
Budget | €10 million |
Box office | $2.2 million |
Chico and Rita is a 2010 adult animated music romantic film with Spanish and English languages directed by Tono Errando, Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal. The story of Chico and Rita is set against backdrops of Havana, New York City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Paris in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and romantic desire unite them, but their journey—in the tradition of the Latin ballad, the bolero—brings heartache and torment. The film was produced by Fernando Trueba Producciones, Estudio Mariscal, and Magic Light Pictures. It received financing from CinemaNX and Isle of Man Film. It won the Goya Award for Best Animated Film at the 25th Goya Awards and was nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 84th Academy Awards (the first nomination for a Spanish full-length animated film).
In present-day Havana, Chico, a shoe-shiner, tunes his radio to the Radio Progreso station, which is playing old Cuban hits on a program called Melodies from Yesterday. As he listens, the station begins to play a romantic arrangement of A Taste of Me (Sabor a Mí) by Mexican composer Álvaro Carrillo (1921–69) which causes him to remember his life back in 1940s Cuba. In 1948 Havana, Chico and his best friend Ramón are struggling dandies in a low-life bar. Ramon arranges a double date for the both of them with two American tourists. They take the women to a bar where Chico falls in love with the band's beautiful lead singer, Rita. Chico attempts to talk to her, but an American tourist refuses to let Rita leave him.