From a working-class kid busting out his best street-corner Michael Jackson moves to an almost two-decade run as Lead Principal for London’s Royal Ballet, legendary dancer and choreographer Carlos Acosta has never shied from turning his often troubled life into the kind of transcendent art that would catapult him to stardom. Taken as a child to Cuba’s National Ballet School by his stern truck driver father Pedro (renowned choreographer Santiago Alfonso), “Yuli” (a terrific debut by 10-year-old Edlison Manuel Olbera Núñez) openly rebels against his own gifts, instead dreaming of soccer stardom and enduring merciless teasing by his friends. But when his raw talent is recognized by dance instructor Chery (Laura De la Uz), Yuli begins a journey that will take him out of Havana’s slums and onto the great stages of the world in this gritty, heartfelt, and rapturously alive new feature from acclaimed director Icíar Bollaín (The Olive Tree).

In competition for the CV Cine Award.