(energet music - [narrator] this is cuba today, a multicultural mix of old and new, artistic energy and great poverty. a country on the cusp of change. (energetic music)

new york photographer, tria giovan grew up in the caribbean and traveled here many times during the 1990s. now, she's returned, this time to photograph cuban culture, it's dancers and musicians. (jazzy music) - cuba feels a lot younger. i'm like, "oh, i'm older." cuba looks younger. i mean, it's just livelier. there's some more energy. it's obvious that things have changed, the mood swifted and shifted. - [narrator] today, tria's taking portraits of dancers, rehearsing to broadway music at a dance academy

that used to be a prison. (shutter click) (tria speaking in foreign language) - that's nice. yeah. beautiful. (shutter click) (energetic music) - [narrator] photography is embedded deep inside cuba's dna, going back into history. (man speaking in foreign language) photographers came from all over the world to chronicle the revolution and its aftermath. - okay, re, you can have it. come on. - [narrator] among them, acclaimed new york photographer, elliott erwitt.

- this is fidel and me. for at it's worth. looks like i was looking at a cigar. maybe it was a lull in the conversation. - [narrator] in the early 1960s, elliot was shooting for magnum photos in what was then the soviet union. when he was given a rare chance to visit cuba. - and that was a unique opportunity to get pictures of them. and in particular, get pictures of che. che guevara was certainly less available than castro. i think he was busy doing other revolutions so. (birds chirping) - [narrator] today, one part of cuba seldom seen up close by outsiders,

is it's beautiful countryside and the people who live there. (man singing) raul canibano is one of cuba's own, a stellar photographer. who's entirely self-taught. (raul speaking in spanish) (woman speaking in foreign language) - [narrator] raul charms his way into every one's heart. (raul and woman speaking in spanish)

(raul speaking in spanish) - [narrator] in honor of their guest. the family has killed one of their prized pigs. (raul speaking in spanish) (speaking in spanish)

(raul speaki in spanish) (crowd cheering) - [narrator] that warrior spirit is on display at the local cockfight. (crowd talking and cheering) - [narrator] the work of havana photographer

leysis quesada vera, focuses on women. (leysis speaking in spanish) - [leysis] 18 yearold. (leysis and woman speaking in spanish) - [narrator] she shines a light on women's frailty, aging and beauty. (slow piano music) for this project, she's looking at women recovering from mastectomies. (leysis speaking in spanish) in the process she helps the women to start talking. (women speaking in spanish)

- [narrator] here is an artist who opens up worlds previously hidden from view. tria giovan is continuing her tour of havana. she's on her way to meet a star of cuban music. (loud piano sounds) (people speaking in spanish) - [narrator] she's the award-winning singer songwriter, haydee milanes. (haydee speaking in spanish) (child speaking in spanish) (haydee speaking in spanish)

- [tria] that's nice. - [narrator] and then haydee performs her most famous song. (haydee singing in spanish) - [narrator] this song celebrates the malecon, havana's famous embankment wall where lovers embrace and friends hang out to pass the time.

(haydee singing in spanish) - [narrator] but there are other embankments along the sea, other malecons in cuba. raul canibano is driving to a town 600 miles east of havana,

where the people have a very different relationship with the sea. (raul speaking in spanish) (waves crashing) - [narrator] in october, 2016, a cyclone hit the town of baracoa. it was devastating. today, another storm is coming and the people are worried about what lies ahead. (waves crashing) (speaking in spanish)

(air whooshing and waves crashing) (melodic singing) - [narrator] by morning, the storm has passed. the sea's calmer. the mood has lifted. (raul speaking in spanish) (shutter clicks) (raul speaking in spanish)

(energetic music) - [narrator] new york photographer, michael dweck, talked hisay into shoong the so-called 1%. the rich young artists who stay out of sight in exclusiveavana enclaves, hidden away from most cubans. - i waed to show the world, especially the american market, i wanted to show them something they hadn't seen before. something a bit of a secret and a bit of surprise. that there was a society living under the radar of the government, that was living a very, very good life, in the arts. (energetic music) - [narrator] this is what he found. (energetic music)

- this is one of the first times that i was shooting there and i realized this particular group had access to things. and i asked, i said, "so, where did you get these sunglasses from?" and they just laughed. the creative class, i think is living its own little world, in their own little bubble, and they're privileged. they're quite privileged. they didn't get where they are based on corruption. they got that based on their talent, and their ingenuity, and their hard work. once i got into this group, they stayed in character. and i just went along that way as i would like an anthropologist. cuba is quite interesting. it's an island of hypocrisy and an island of survivors. and of course there are some that survived better than others. the class that i was concentrating on, the creative class, survived quite well. it was a secret to havana, it was a secret the u.s. and a secret, i think, to the most of the world thathis subculture,

th privileged, creative, self-culture existed in cuba. - [narrator] but for the older generation of cuban artists, life is less secretive. in the suburbs of havana, tria is on her way to meet one of the all-time greats of afro-cuban jazz, bobby carcasses. (jazzy music) - right here will be beautiful, i think, if you sat and played a little bit. - i will perform a little, little fragment. (bobby singing in spanish)

- [narrator] bobby carcasses is one of the founders of the world famous havana jazz festival. (bobby singing) - beautiful. - [narrator] from piano practice in one part of the city to ballet practice in another. leysis has been documenting her own daughter's dreams. (leysis speaking in spanish)

- [narrator] some cubans challenge their uncertainty with faith. raul canibano is at the festival of saint lazarus to document yet another aspect of the beauty and complexity that is cuba. pilgrims crawl almost five miles towards their shrine, a small church just outside havana. (raul speaking in spanish)

(energetic music and people singing) - [narrator] by nightfall, there's an almost carnival atmosphere. cubans here believe that having made the sacrifice, their prayers will be answered. (raul speaking in spanish) (slow piano music) - [narrator] this is cuba now. (energetic music)

announcer: funding for the kcet "fine cut" series is generously provided by the bridges larson foundation. ♪