Times are a changing

The last time I was in Cuba was almost ten years ago and what I remember from my time there is so different that what I am experiencing now. Ten years ago I saw the Cuba of my dreams. I saw the Cuba that Che gave his life for. I saw the Cuba I read about when I was fourteen, the Cuba that inspired me to believe that another way was possible. Today I see glimpses of that Cuba in the possibility for education, for the access to doctors and in the ability to have a home. But today I am also able to see the complexities of daily life, the frustrations of dreams differed, the harshness of poverty and the necessity of change. What change do I speak of? I am not sure because it is not for me to decide. The change must come from the Cuban people, from their desires, their needs and their way of life. They must be the creators of their own system, a system that will work for their values, their expectations and their hopes.

As the Cuban people walk towards their moment of truth there are many things I hope they do not forget along their journey. Small things I have noticed since I have been here that I think speak volumes to who they are as a people.

Don’t forget to share your rice with your neighbors when you have too much and they have too little.

Don’t forget when your on a crowded bus, the people that have the privilege to be sitting down must continue to offer to hold people’s bags/purses that are in the unlucky position to be standing.

Don’t forget to keep the collective taxis.

Don’t forget there is no need to throw things away …it doesn’t matter how old it is it can always be fixed!

Don’t forget the importance of sending your doctors to countries that are in more need than you.

Don’t forget how to be creative.

Don’t forget that education and health care are a right for all and not a privilege for a few.

p

Viva la Revolucion!

This Sunday I will be leaving to Cuba! Excited does not give justice to my feelings of going to Cuba. The last time I was there was almost ten years ago with one of the most amazing projects I have ever been a part of, THE SOL PROJECT.

The Sol Project was the first ever cultural exchange with kids from the USA and Cuba since the embargo began. We brought twelve American kids ages 8-13 to live and work with twelve Cuban kids for a month. During this month the kids wrote and performed an original full length play that was presented to over 1,500 Cubans at the National Theater. Along with the kids each country had ten mentors, ages 20-25, that created, directed and ran the Sol Project. At the age of twenty one I was one of these mentors. To try and describe what I experienced during that month is impossible because it was simply too great, too amazing, too inspiring...it was life altering.

I truly believe the only reason I am was able to direct Entre Nos is because of what I experienced and created in Cuba during Sol Project. One of my most vivid memories is when the play began. I was sitting in the audience and I was a nervous wreck. I couldn't stop moving my legs. I kept looking around the audience amazed that one thousand five hundred people had come to see our work. The lights came down in the audience and I held my breath. Lights up on stage and the magic began. The kids were phenomenal!!!! My eyes were filled with tears of joy and pride...and then I had the simplest but most empowering thought....I said to myself "If I was able direct and create this play I can direct & create anything." And just like that, a thousand doors opened up in my mind, just like that any fear and insecurities I had disappeared...and just like that I started the journey that would eventually lead me to Entre Nos.

So ten years later I am going back to Havana...back to the national theater...back to where it all began.

Hasta la victoria siempre...
paola

Lali

Today is our last day in the Dominican Republic and it has been a wonderful festival. I have only been to one other film festival in Latin America (the AMAZING Cartagena Film Festival) and what I love about festivals here is the carefree attitude about the festivals. The festivals know how to have FUN parties, lots of dancing, food and drinking. The filmmakers tend to let their hair down, and get their hips moving to the salsa beat...it's always a good time. I am very excited about our festival in Cuba as I hear that is the mother of all festivals..but I am getting ahead of myself, we don't leave to Cuba until December and I should focus on the DR and what happened Friday night.

For me, the best part of being a filmmaker is entering people's lives. Having the opportunity to meet people that are so different from me, with such different experiences, different understandings, different sets of beliefs. The most sacred part of filmmaking is building relationships with people, building enough trust where people share their secrets, their fears and their dreams with me. It's truly an honor when someone lets me into their world. I take the responsibility very seriously and I try my best to do right by them and their story.

On Friday night Gloria and I had the opportunity to meet Lali. Lali is a prostitute. She works on a brightly lit street on the Malecon in Santo Domingo, across the street from a gas station which blares salsa, merenge and bachata until the sun rises. Gloria and I spoke with Lali for a couple of hours and in this time she shared her life story with us. She talked about how she ended up where she is, she talked about her dreams, her daughter and the Paulo Coelho book she was reading. She was warm, gracious and kind. Her story was riveting, her personality was larger than life, so much so that the constant stream of men, the non-stop flipping of tricks simply melted into the background. I listened to this young woman, who is my age, open her heart and her life to me. I felt humbled and so grateful to be given the opportunity to speak with her. To do nothing more than speak with her was a precious gift. Why a gift? Because I cannot deny someone's humanity once I have spoken with them, once they have told me the only thing they want in life is to be loved by a good man. To be loved by a good man...that's what I want as well. That's what you want...it's what we all want.

Flying around the world at a non-stop pace, being pampered everywhere I go, being told how much someone likes my film, my acting, my writing, my directing can make me loose myself IN myself. But sitting down with Lali grounds me. It reminds me why I do what I do. I don't tell stories in order travel. I tell stories so I can connect with humanity, I tell stories to move people, I tell stories so Lali can watch my movie after a long nights work and laugh or cry or simply escape.

p

Call to prayer...

I didn't keep my word...I didn't write a thing while I was in Turkey...not because I didn't want to but because I just couldn't find the right time to sit down and put my thoughts down. It was a whirl wind of a trip...a ten hour flight and four hour drive only to be in Bursa for a day and a half and then back to Istanbul for two days...but it was amazing!

Turkey is the second Muslim country I have traveled to (Morocco being the first) and I must say I really like going to Muslim countries. I like it because it is so different from what I know and what I am accustomed to. I like it because being in a Muslim country my misconceptions and preconceived notions are slowly dismantled. I like it because I feel I learn so much from a culture and a people that have been demonized. I like it because I feel being in a Muslim country and having people to people contact truly helps in building a new and better future. Every person we encountered was kind and warm. When they found out we were American's they would bring us tea, ask us to sit down and talk to us about their cousins that go to Michigan University, or their uncle that lives in Tiverton, might we know him? Time and time again we laughed with them, we talked politics, some disliked Obama, most didn't trust Bush, but almost all LOVED Bill Clinton...funny!

I realized on this trip while it is wonderful to see beautiful buildings and eat delicious food the true joy of traveling is laughing with people over tea while talking about sports, love and politics!

paz
p

Hello Turkey and I ain't talking about Thanksgiving

In thirty minutes I am off to the airport for a ten hour flight to Turkey! I am super excited because ENTRE NOS is opening the festival, an honor which we have never had! Friday night we will walk down the red carpet, show the film to the Turkish people, go to the after party and then come Saturday it's exploration time!

The wonderful thing is I am not traveling alone this time. On this trip Michael (our producer) will be traveling all through Bursa and Istanbul with me. While I loved traveling alone, at times it can get lonely. Part of the beauty of traveling is to share ones experiences and having Michael withe me will allow me to share and learn with him. So needless to say I am very excited to have him along with me on this trip. It's always a joy to travel with Michael as he makes sure to make me laugh where ever we go and what ever we do!


paz
p

Those kids!

My English professor told me one day, if you ever feel there are no words to describe something, find them! I am doing just that as I so desperately want to share this weekend in Fort Lauderdale. There is so much to write about so I will instead focus...

At last night's awards ceremony Sebastian Villada Lopez and Laura Montana Cortez won the Child Actor Awards.
Paola and I have done countless Q&As for audiences in and outside of the US and the one comment we always get is, "And those kids!" Which is generally followed by, "Where did you find them?" We love telling their stories! We cannot be more proud of the life and courage that Sebastian and Laura brought to their individual characters. We talk about finding Laura among hundreds of other kids at an open call in Jackson Heights in the back of a local restaurant, spotting Sebastian on the lawn of Flushing Meadow park with his grandmother on the hottest day of the summer, their dramatic growth and development during rehearsals, loving and fighting on set like brother & sister... and I can go on. One of my favorite moments (and I means seconds) on screen between them is when Mariana and Andrea see Gabriel off to school - Andrea wraps her arms around her brother like only she can do and he in turn simply pats her softly a few times on the head - It gets me every time. It embodies the affection that Paola and I only dreamed about for these characters and is a testament as actors to their individual understanding of the importance of that moment in the film. Top honors well deserved!


ENTRE NOS at Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival
Best Child Actors.....Sebastian Villada Lopez and Laura Montana Cortez
Best Female Actor.....Paola Mendoza
President's Award.....Entre Nos
Best Film of the Festival...Entre Nos

Gloria

The FOOD

The food, the food, the food was AMAZING!!!!