90 MILES (90 MILLAS) Latin Cinema Series

90 miles is the length of water between the US and Cuba, but
Juan Carlos Zaldivar’s personal documentary portrays a more
complex and compelling distance.
In 1980, Juan was a 13-year-old communist demonstrating
against the thousands of people who were deserting Cuba in
the Mariel boatlift. Within a week, Juan and his entire family
were on one of those Mariel boats headed for Miami 90 miles
away. Eighteen years later, when one of his short films was
selected to screen at the Havana Film Festival, Juan decided to
go back to Cuba to reunite with his family and his past. He was
thrilled and apprehensive about connecting with Cuba again,
especially in the context of filmmaking. While in Cuba, demonstrations
over Elian Gonzalez erupted outside his hotel, causing
the rift between the US and Cuba to again split wider. Shot over
a period of five years, Juan Carlos Zaldivar holds a looking
glass up to the complexities of trust, pride, family, responsibility
and being a Cuban-American.
Complemented by a soundtrack of seductive Cuban music and
Juan’s natural charisma, 90 MILES is an amazingly universal
film, depicting the sacrifices parents make for their children and
the issues faced by first-generation Americans. -Shaz Bennett