Buena Vista Social Club
American guitarist Ry Cooder teams with aging Cuban folk legends to capture their timeless sound on a historic recording, racing against age and political tension to bring the forgotten music of Havana to the world stage.
“In Havana, music isn't a pastime, it's a way of life.”
Synopsis
In this Oscar-nominated documentary, American guitarist Ry Cooder collaborates with a group of legendary Cuban folk musicians, some in their 90s, to record a Grammy-winning album in their native city of Havana. The film presents a compilation of concert footage featuring the group.
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 36
These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Brian JohnsonShot by Jorg Widmer
Box Office
1999 · Box office
Grossed $23.0M worldwide
Worldwide gross
$23.0M
US & Canada: $7.0M — 30% of worldwide · International: $16.0M (70%)
Opening weekend: $127K — 2% of its US run. It had legs — it kept earning long after opening weekend.
Opening week (7-day): $206K — 3% of its US & Canada run.
Peak 15 theaters
Also known as
- The Buena Vista Social Clubde
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Cast & Crew
36 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Supporting cast
18Orlando Cachaito Lopez
as Self
Amadito Valdes
as Self
Manuel Guajiro Mirabal
as Self
Barbarito Torres
as Self
Pio Leyva
as Self
Manuel Puntillita Licea
as Self
Juan De Marcos Gonzalez
as Self
Lazaro Villa
as Self
Carlos Gonzalez
as Self
Gilberto Papi Oviedo
as Self
Alejandro Pichardo
as Self
Yanko Pichardo
as Self
Jesus Aguaje Ramos
as Self
Salvador Repilado Labrada
as Self (as Salvador Repilado)
Jose Antonio Rodriguez
as Self
Benito Suarez Magana
as Self (as Benito Suárez)
Alberto Virgilio Valdes
as Self
Heitor Goldflus
as Self - Man at a Manhattan Street (uncredited)
Directors
1Writers
2Producers
2Other crew
2Parents Guide
AI Personalities
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Where to watch
Live · bot-verified- The Criterion ChannelStream
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