Independent Film Festival Boston 2009

Director Jonathan Hock, producers Bobby & Peter Farrelly, and narrator Chris Cooper in attendance.

Luis Tiant lives in the memory of many baseball fans as the charismatic, talented pitcher with an unorthodox delivery: he turned his back entirely to the hitter. He is remembered especially fondly by Red Sox fans for his performance during the 1975 World Series, in which he started three games, all of which the Sox won. He became something of a cult figure in Boston during his years with the team, and still lives in Massachusetts today.

LOST SON OF HAVANA is occasioned by the opportunity Tiant had in 2007 to travel back to his home country, Cuba. A goodwill exhibition game between American and Cuban players provided a rare chance for Americans to travel legally to the country, and an American event organizer invited Tiant to join the team as a coach. Even more surprising, the documentary camera crew was able to travel as part of the team and to film Tiant’s visit. This was to be the first time he had set foot in his native land in 46 years.

Though self-described as apolitical, Tiant had been caught in the rivalry between the U.S. and Cuba while playing for a minor-league team in the U.S. during the summer of 1961. The failed invasion at the Bay of Pigs led Cuba to close off communication with the U.S., and Tiant was faced with a choice: return to his home and give up the hope of playing baseball professionally, or pursue a sports career in the U.S. and possibly never see his friends or family again.

The film draws together several disparate threads of Tiant’s history: his career accomplishments and highlights, his father’s experience playing in the Negro Leagues in the thirties and forties, and his travel in and around Havana in 2007, looking for old friends and family. It is a striking, personal portrait of a man still widely admired for his ability and flair on the mound––but another portrait emerges, as well, of the personal costs of segregation and Cold War politics; of the twentieth century’s social ills, which baseball may palliate, but cannot cure.

- Kyle Parrish