José Enrique Pardo: Writer/Director of CUBAMERICAN

1Q: Tell us a little about the origins of CUBAMERICAN, from concept to financing.

CUBAMERICAN was conceived after my father’s death. I felt like my Cuban roots and culture had left with him and it made me want to capture the experience of the Cuban-American exile, which had never been comprehensively captured in a film before.  The financing began with some family savings, and continued from there; it was that bold and that simple.

2Q: Cinequest is proud to host the World Premiere of CUBAMERICAN. Explain to the audience how you feel about bringing this film before audiences for the first time, and what do you think their reaction will be to your film?

I’m proud and humbled to bring CUBAMERICAN to audiences at Cinequest for the first of what we hope will be many showings in the United States and beyond, in order to deliver the film’s message that all human beings need to live in freedom and be able to express themselves without restriction. My expectation is that their reaction will be affirmative. That they will feel uplifted and empowered and their faith we can make the world a better place will be renewed.

3Q: What was your best and/or worst experience while making CUBAMERICAN?

My best experiences, because I cannot narrow it down to one, were meeting and sharing with the inspiring subjects in the film.
The worst experience was the difficulty raising funding for the film; it was a constant battle.

4Q: Festival audiences often have to make hard decisions about what to see, and the catalog descriptions sometimes run together. In your own words, why should people see your film?

Because CUBAMERICAN is a life-affirming story of triumph over tragedy, of the courage and conviction necessary to overcome the loss of your homeland, an experience that applies not just to Cubamericans, but to waves of previous American immigrants that have made this country great.

5Q: The current market for independent films is fractured, to put it lightly, and existing distribution models grow more ineffective with each passing moment. What are your hopes or plans for distribution?

We plan to distribute the film ourselves, unless we are presented with a better option. We will not be deterred from spreading the message of CUBAMERICAN.

View the trailer!

Buy tickets to see CUBAMERICAN at Cinequest!