Alicia and the Mystery Box

France Benoit
38 minutes • 2003
Also available on DVD

(Also available in French as La boîte d'Alicia)

Cuba, Québec, Yellowknife, Halifax and Puerto Rico mix in this emotional documentary about memory, family, culture, politics and identity. France Benoit is a Québécoise living in the Northwest Territories. During a visit to her in-laws, she discovers an unexplained box of mementoes from Cuba nestled in a trunk. Her husband can only tell her that his late grandfather once worked in the Canadian embassy in pre-Castro Havana. But the contents of the box clearly belong to someone else—black and white photos of a wealthy Cuban family, baptismal certificates, newspaper clippings and baby books lovingly inscribed in English handwriting. Immediately, France vows to find the rightful owner and return these treasures.

What she discovers is Alicia de Arango and a Cuban family history marked by privilege, intrigue and the tragic reversal of fortunes that followed Castro's revolution. The journey takes France, mystery box in hand, from her home in the Northwest Territories to Cuban history expert John M. Kirk at Dalhousie University, to Alicia's new home in San Juan, Puerto Rico and, of course, to Cuba. For France, the odyssey is cultural, political and deeply personal. She cherishes the unexpected chance to connect with Alicia, a kindred spirit living outside her homeland, negotiating two cultures and thriving through change because of the strong bonds of family.

Subject(s): Canada–Northern, Family, History, Latin America, Québec, Women