Anton Arrufat

The story of José Lezama Lima and his rise as a literary figure in Cuba and his tragic end, alone and silenced in his Havana home.

"Odd People Out" tracks the process of marginalization and the repression of homosexuals during the first two decades of the Cuban revolution through the biography of the writer Reinaldo Arenas—as told by himself and other intellectuals and artists who shared his life and suffered the repression of a regime that named them “extravagant.” For many years none of them existed; they were considered non-people. Filmed clandestinely in Cuba in 2003, "Odd People Out" was never exhibited on the island.

As the author of one of the most influential novels in Latin American literature, Paradiso (1966), the Cuban José Lezama Lima is considered a major figure in his country. In this documentary, the director and writer Ernesto Fundora, carries out a study on the author's life through the testimonies of a long list of writers, artists and personalities close to him. The result is a film that explores his work, but also pays a heartfelt tribute to his immeasurable figure.