STRINGS OF HAVANA
Musician on a Havana rooftop at sunset
A Partnership Proposal · Off the Grid Studios
Strings of
Havana
Music survives where almost nothing else can.

A cinematic documentary — and a commercial media platform — on music, resilience, and the fight to keep the power on in a Cuba that's changing fast.

Presented for
Goal Zero BioLite
One family — power & light for life off the grid
Scroll
Old Havana street at dusk
01 — The backdrop

Cuba is changing fast — and the lights keep going out.

Music is one of the last living expressions of Cuban identity, and we're capturing it before it's gone. But the national grid keeps collapsing — millions left in the dark for hours, sometimes days.

10M+
without power in a single nationwide grid collapse
12–20 hrs
of blackout a day across much of the island
Again & again
total grid failures, repeating across 2024–2025
Musicians say the blackouts “steal your will.” And yet — the music never stops.
Sources: PBS · AFP · Cuba Headlines · CBC — Cuba's national blackouts, 2024–2025.
A guitar leaning against a weathered Havana wall
02 — The ingenuity

So they power it — and light it — themselves.

01
Battery-run studiosFull sessions tracked off stored power while the block sits dark.
02
Recording in the darkMusicians play by candle and torch when the sun goes down.
03
Recordings that shouldn't existWorld-class music made in conditions the industry calls impossible.
See it for yourself

A studio running on battery power.

Real footage from Cuba — the exact gap Goal Zero and BioLite are built to fill.

Battery-powered recording session · Havana
03 — The partnership

Goal Zero powers it.
BioLite lights it.

Two brands whose whole reason for being — power and light off the grid — becomes the reason this film can exist. Every role is authentic and on-camera.

Goal ZeroPower
Power the studios
Yeti stations run a battery studio and rooftop session while the block sits dark.
A solar mobile rig
A solar-charged recording kit travels Havana — grid or no grid.
Power as access
Gifted units to the musicians we follow — power becomes opportunity.
Yeti 1000 / 1500Yeti 500 / 700Nomad Solar
BioLiteLight
Light the night sessions
AlpenGlow lanterns and string lights turn a blacked-out rooftop into a set.
Light where there is none
SolarHome kits illuminate a musician's home — BioLite's mission, on screen.
Keep the crew moving
Range headlamps for hands-free shooting through the dark.
AlpenGlowSolar String LightsRange HeadlampSolarHome
Goal Zero — power to communities.BioLite — light where there is none.Their mission, lived out loud — no staging required.
04 — Who's behind it

A team that can actually pull this off.

Film, commercial assets, and agency-grade campaign strategy — under one roof.

RA Beattie
Off the Grid Studios · Film & Direction
Emmy-nominated director with 25 years of award-winning storytelling — and the on-the-ground Cuba relationships that make this shoot possible. Leads the film.
William Woodward
Commercial Photographer & Director · Assets
Award-caliber commercial photographer and director. Creates the product-in-the-field imagery and branded films the partners own and run. Leads the commercial assets.
DJ O'Neil
HUb San Francisco · Campaign & Story
Founder of HUb Strategy (est. 2002) — the agency behind challenger brands like Google, Nike, Levi's & PlayStation; Cannes, Clio & Webby-recognized. Architects the campaign.
Access already earned in Cuba — Summer 2024
Government filming permitsDrone over HavanaHemingway's residenceA trusted local network
05 — Two ways to value it

Not just a film. A media venture.

Depending on how you think about budget, Strings of Havana can be a film investment, a commercial media spend, or both.

Lens 01 — Film

The documentary

A festival-caliber film with long-term cultural value — premieres, streaming, press, education — brands woven authentically throughout.

Lens 02 — Commercial media

The campaign platform

A content spend that yields a library of assets the brands own and run: product-in-the-field photography, branded films, essays, articles, and social.

Commercial photographyBranded short filmsPhoto essaysEditorial articlesSocial content
In development with a leading American guitar company and a small circle of brand partners already in conversation — Goal Zero and BioLite would join a story that's already gathering real momentum.
Where it travels: Festivals · Streaming · Press · Education — everywhere it goes, both brands go with it.
Powered by Goal Zero  ·  Lit by BioLite

Three ways to come in.

In-kind
The Gear
Goal Zero power and BioLite light that make the film physically possible — on camera, doing what they were built to do.
Commercial media
The Campaign
A content-spend partnership: branded films, photography, articles, and social the brands own and run beyond the film.
Presenting
The Partnership
Presenting billing — "Powered by Goal Zero, Lit by BioLite" — with marketing rights across the film's full life.
Help us keep the music powered — and the nights lit.
Musician on a Havana rooftop at sunset

Some places change slowly. Then all at once.

The real music of Cuba deserves to be documented before that moment arrives — and Goal Zero and BioLite can be the reason it's heard, and seen.

Powered & lit by
Goal Zero BioLite
Off the Grid Studios — RA Beattie · ra@beattieproductions.com
Strings of Havana · A partnership proposal