Vamos a la playa

Equipped with backpack, fanny pack and Birkenstocks, Katharina, Judith and Benjamin fly to Cuba to look for their absconded friend Wanja. But their joint venture quickly collapses into chaos. Katharina chases sexual adventures with Cubans, Judith falls for a dance instructor, and Benjamin must painfully realise that his feelings are not reciprocated. In the supposed tropical paradise, the clichéd projections of Western tourists increasingly collide with a far more complex reality. Director Bettina Blümner's summery coming-of-age movie cleverly tells of adolescent sensitivities, cultural misunderstandings and the sex tourism rampant on the Caribbean island. (Zurich Film Festival)