Filmed in Cuba over the course of ten years, Los Últimos Frikis tells the story of iconic Cuban heavy metal band Zeus and their three-decade fight to be heard. When Zeus formed in the 1980s, rock music was illegal and rockers were derisively called los frikis—the freaks. Fidel Castro’s communist government saw rock and roll as a mortal threat sent by a capitalist enemy. In the face of repression, Zeus rose to infamy as a counter-cultural phenomenon but paid a price. Zeus’s lead singer, Dionisio “Diony” Arce, spent six years in prison at the height of his career. Today, the band is part of the system as an official group within the Ministry of Culture’s Agency of Cuban Rock. As Cuba’s political and social climate once again shifts, the band embarks on a national tour across the island to defend their cultural impact and livelihood—to prove that frikis still have a voice in Cuba.
Official Selection - Miami International Film Festival
Official Selection - Nashville Film Festival
Reviews
"The film’s enduring hook is the spectacle of a self-proclaimed revolutionary government that can’t abide the rebellion of rock without bureaucratic oversight." - Nicolas Rapold, The New York Times
"Los Ultimos Frikis explores band’s shift from long-ignored outcasts to government-approved rockers" - Rolling Stone
