FAQ

No, this film is a work of fiction, but it does draw upon factual elements such as the death of Cuban jazz musician Chano Pozo. The character of Chico is loosely based on musician Bebo Valdés, who also composed the original music for the film.

Many of the characters switch back and forth between speaking Cuban Spanish and US English, depending on where they are and who they're with. Most US servicemen and visitors stick to English, often with significant slang. Subtitles are quite good, sufficient yet not obtrusive. English speakers should have no difficulty at all following the story.

The creative troika in Madrid is responsible for the visual design. The aural design owes a lot to a musician who worked in Havana and retired in Stockholm.

About 200 animators at 11 studios in 6 countries on 3 continents contributed to the animation. Computer software helped coordinate the roughly 100,000 tasks.