Director’s Notes

I was raised in a chaotic and polarized environment. Miami in the 70s and 80s was a war zone with two distinctly opposed factions.

Those who wanted Peace and Dialogue with Cuba (my dad amongst them), and those who insisted on War! And I was in the privileged position of being smack in the middle. Ouch.

New York city here I come! Wow, there was a world beyond, filled with Art, Movies, Movies and more Movies.

Then, there was a call West. All I wanted to do was live my life in beautiful Santa Monica, go to film school, have babies and enjoy the beauty and grace of friends, hikes, yoga and meditation. Life is beautiful!

But then, a funny thing happened. My creative life began to be obsessed with one topic and one topic only. You guessed it: Cuba. Yes, the same Cuba that was my arch enemy when I was a child. My scripts were about Cubans singers, Cuban exiles, Cuban terrorists… where did all these people come from invading my subconscious?

“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”

So the time had come to rid myself of this monkey on my back and just delve right in. The result of course, for all the world to see, is The Man of Two Havanas. What a relief, now I can go back to enjoying my life, right? Wrong. Because the struggle to reunite with where one came from has only one possible conclusion. I spent my whole life running away.

Today when I visit my mom and dad it seems that not much has changed. Polarities abound, their lives dominated by the conflict caused by the side my dad has chosen. But much has changed for me.

I can choose to opt out of the game.

Mission

Many Americans are influenced by the institutional media and its misrepresentation of Cuba and Cuban-Americans. Cubans also have a one dimensional view of Americans and especially Cuban-Americans. My film is my effort to understand my father, my country of birth and the impact that the laws of my adopted country has had on ordinary Cubans.

I want to play a small part in bringing together Cubans and Americans as well as Cuban-Americans by providing a forum for sharing our thoughts, pictures and videos and just getting to know each other!