# Viva (2015 film)
**Viva** is a 2015 drama film directed by Paddy Breathnach and written by Mark O'Halloran, set and filmed in Havana and performed in Spanish. It follows Jesús, a young gay hairdresser at a Havana drag club who dreams of performing, and his estranged father Ángel, a former boxer released from prison, as the two clash and slowly reconcile. An Irish-Cuban production, the film premiered at the 2015 [Telluride Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/telluride-film-festival) and was selected as Ireland's entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, reaching the nine-film shortlist for that category.[1](https://www.magpictures.com/viva/) • [2](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/298839/) • [3](https://research.iadt.ie/en/publications/viva/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writer | Paddy Breathnach; screenplay by Mark O'Halloran[2](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/298839/) |
| Country, year, language | Ireland and Cuba, 2015, Spanish[4](https://mspfilm.org/show/viva/) |
| Running time | 100 minutes[2](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/298839/) |
| Principal cast | Héctor Medina (Jesús), Jorge Perugorría (Ángel), Luis Alberto García (Mama)[1](https://www.magpictures.com/viva/) |
| Premiere | 2015 Telluride Film Festival[1](https://www.magpictures.com/viva/) |
| Awards | Ireland's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar; reached the nine-film shortlist[3](https://research.iadt.ie/en/publications/viva/) |
| Critical reception | Metascore 69 from 19 critic reviews; 81% on Rotten Tomatoes[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/viva/) • [6](https://time.com/4607908/rotten-tomatoes-certified-fresh-movies-2016/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Jesús (Héctor Medina) is an eighteen-year-old Cuban who works as a hairdresser at a Havana nightclub that showcases drag performers, earning money through hustling while dreaming of becoming a performer himself.[2](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/298839/) • [1](https://www.magpictures.com/viva/) At home he listens to the records his mother and grandmother left him, torch songs and romances by the great names of Latin music, or watches the boxers train next door.[2](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/298839/) Encouraged by the club's star, an aging drag queen known as Mama (Luis Alberto García), he finally takes the stage under the name Viva.[1](https://www.magpictures.com/viva/) • [7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/05/viva-review-drag-queen-paddy-breathnach-telluride)
During that first performance a stranger pulls him from the stage and punches him in the face: his father Ángel (Jorge Perugorría), a celebrated boxer who abandoned him as a child and has just been released from a fifteen-year prison term for killing someone in a street brawl.[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/viva/) • [2](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/298839/) Ángel moves into the family apartment and forbids his son to have anything to do with drag performing or the drag world.[8](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-viva-review-20160429-column.html) As father and son clash over their opposing expectations of each other, the film becomes, in the distributor's words, a love story as the men struggle to understand one another and reconcile as a family.[1](https://www.magpictures.com/viva/)
## Production
Breathnach, an Irish director whose earlier features include *Ailsa* (1994), *I Went Down* (1997), and *Man About Dog* (2004), first encountered Havana's drag scene as a tourist in the mid-1990s and, impressed by what he has called the scene's "raw emotional energy," returned with screenwriter Mark O'Halloran to put it on film.[9](https://www.accesscinema.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/May-2016-Screening-Day-Programme.pdf) • [8](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-viva-review-20160429-column.html) The film was shot on location in Havana and directed in Spanish.[3](https://research.iadt.ie/en/publications/viva/) • [9](https://www.accesscinema.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/May-2016-Screening-Day-Programme.pdf)
The production was backed by the Irish Film Board and Windmill Lane Pictures, produced by Treasure Entertainment with producers including Rebecca O'Flanagan and [Robert Walpole](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-walpole), and photographed by Cathal Watters, with a score by Stephen Rennicks.[2](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/298839/) • [1](https://www.magpictures.com/viva/) Magnolia Pictures distributed the film in the United States.[1](https://www.magpictures.com/viva/)
## Music and drag performance
The world of lip-synching drag queens and the emotion they create onstage is central to the story, and the film features a collection of vintage torch songs by Cuban singers including Rosita Fornés, Elena Burke, and Maggie Carlés.[8](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-viva-review-20160429-column.html) Critics noted that the drag depicted departs from the American ballroom tradition: the performers' clothes are modest, their gestures small, and their wigs short, and they use the songs not to show off but to interpret and make visible long-suppressed emotions.[10](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/viva-2015/)
## Reception and awards
*Viva* premiered at the 2015 Telluride Film Festival, where it was described as a hit, and later screened at the [Sundance Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/sundance-film-festival) 2016 and the Dublin Film Festival 2016, among other selections.[1](https://www.magpictures.com/viva/) • [2](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/298839/) It was selected as Ireland's entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for the 2016 ceremony and reached the nine-film shortlist in that category, though it was not among the final five nominees.[3](https://research.iadt.ie/en/publications/viva/) • [11](https://latinfilmreviews.wordpress.com/2022/07/18/viva-2015/)
On the review aggregator Metacritic the film holds a score of 69 out of 100, based on 19 critic reviews, classified as generally favorable.[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/viva/) Rotten Tomatoes certified it fresh at 81 percent.[6](https://time.com/4607908/rotten-tomatoes-certified-fresh-movies-2016/) Reviewers singled out the two lead performances: Kenneth Turan, then film critic of the *Los Angeles Times*, praised Perugorría's convincing turn as the aggressively surly Ángel, a striking contrast to his role as a seductive gay man in the 1993 Oscar-nominated Cuban film *Strawberry and Chocolate*, and Medina's ability to convey both Jesús's tentativeness and a strength that echoes his father's determination.[8](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-viva-review-20160429-column.html) Several critics observed that the story of a young man seeking acceptance from a macho father is familiar; the *Los Angeles Times* review concluded that nothing happens a viewer will not see coming, but that the film is deftly done, while the *Miami Herald* called it "Rocky" in drag and sequins, transplanted to Havana.[8](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-viva-review-20160429-column.html) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/viva/)
## Release
The film was released in Spain on 13 May 2016 and in France on 6 July 2016, with Magnolia Pictures handling the United States release.[2](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/298839/) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/viva/) In Ireland it opened on 19 August 2016.[12](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4334482/)
## References
1. [VIVA | A Magnolia Pictures Film](https://www.magpictures.com/viva/)
2. [VIVA, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/298839/)
3. [Viva, IADT Research](https://research.iadt.ie/en/publications/viva/)
4. [Viva, MSP Film](https://mspfilm.org/show/viva/)
5. [Viva Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/viva/)
6. [These Movies Were All Certified Fresh by Rotten Tomatoes in 2016, TIME](https://time.com/4607908/rotten-tomatoes-certified-fresh-movies-2016/)
7. [Viva review, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/05/viva-review-drag-queen-paddy-breathnach-telluride)
8. [In the deft 'Viva,' a son's dream of being a drag performer is opposed by his surly father, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-viva-review-20160429-column.html)
9. [Screening Day Programme, accessCinema](https://www.accesscinema.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/May-2016-Screening-Day-Programme.pdf)
10. [Review: Viva, Slant Magazine](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/viva-2015/)
11. [Viva (2015), Latin American Film Reviews](https://latinfilmreviews.wordpress.com/2022/07/18/viva-2015/)
12. [Viva (2015), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4334482/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2015 to 2019 › Drama films 2015 and 2016 › Released in 2015*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license