FILM + Q&A with writer/director Iván Acosta and actor Ruben Rabasa, moderated by local filmmaker Gabriel de Varona.
A Cuban refugee named Ramon (Ruben Rabasa) arrives in Miami after being in prison for years. Freed during the Mariel boatlift, Ramon is welcomed to Florida by his childhood friend Pablo (Reynaldo Medina). Pablo, now a successful car salesman with a comfortable life and a beautiful fiancée (Lucy Pereda), takes Ramon under his wing. As Ramon navigates his new life, Pablo helps him experience the American dream.
Upset by the negative depiction of "Marielitos" in Brian De Palma's Scarface (1983), Cuban writer/director Iván Acosta (El Super play) sought funding to make the first feature-length film made in the U.S. entirely by Cuban filmmakers, artists, technicians and actors. Amigos presents "the other face of Scarface" (Miami Herald) and was filmed on location in Miami, with additional scenes shot in Washington D.C., Union City, New Jersey, and New York City.
"The Cuban community in Miami had a very negative attitude towards the new refugees. So, to me, it was very important to tell the human story of the "Marielitos." In Amigos, we aimed to do just that, in El Súper’s style. In El Súper, I had Roberto Amador Gonzalez expressing the Cuban exile experience of those days. In Amigos, I have Ramón Goizueta Fernández, telling the stories of many Cuban refugees who decided to leave everything behind, to escape through the Mariel boatlift. I wrote the script as a bittersweet comedy drama." —Iván Acosta
Ruben Rabasa, who stars in Amigos, is also featured in the film Thelma, showing at Coral Gables Art Cinema June 21 to July 4.
"A story of a Mariel refugee told with warmth and humor." — The Miami News