Con el Toque de la Chaveta

A lector (top center) reads to workers as the roll cigars

Cigar makers. One, perhaps two or three hundred sat in rows at wooden tables, skilled fingers rolling moist leaves of tobacco.

The lector. Only one sat at the tribuna raised above the workers. Two hands held a book, maybe a newspaper. Words rolled off the lector's tongue, resonating throughout the factory.

Together, tabaqueros and lectores traveled to the Spain of Don Quijote, the France of Victor Hugo, and the Cuban battlefield of Antonio Maceo. They followed the debates between anarchists and socialists, as well as the local baseball scores. Sometimes they laid down their tools-chavetas and books-and walked out of the factories to demand their rights.

Through 'la lectura' cigar workers were entertained, educated, and developed a sense of class solidarity.

The reader's voice is no longer heard in most places. But in Cuba, cigar makers defend their tradition of 'la lectura' with pride.

"Con el toque de la chaveta" (With a Stroke of the Chaveta) takes viewers into the cigar factories of Cuba where we witness the tradition of 'la lectura de tabaqueria', the collective reading of literature while tabaqueros roll habanos.

From 'lectores' Odayls, Aguila and Gricel, we learn about the challenges of meeting the expectations of a knowledgeable and demanding workforce and the satisfaction of receiving the applause of hundreds of 'chavetas' in unison.

Cigar makers inform us that they can't imagine working without a reader . This poetic documentary leaves us wondering where to draw the line between 'worker' and 'intellectual.'

Chaveta (roller's knife)

The knife used in a cigar factory for cutting the wrapper leaf.