A Weekend with León Ichaso
Paraíso (Paradise)
Directed by León Ichaso/USA/2009/106mins. With Miguel Guitérrez, Adrián Mas, Tamara Melián

Shot entirely in Miami with a crew of 10 (along with four film students), “Paraíso” had its World Premiere at the Miami International Film Festival in 2009. Ichaso, who directed the Cuban-American classics “El Super,” “Bitter Sugar,” “Pinéro,” and “El Cantante,” returns to Miami to tell the tale of a Cuban exile's arrival in Miami, which leads to major trouble.

The open, visually-poetic style and structure of this gritty film (the entire thing was shot on digital video, with a budget of $30,000) is reminiscent of Ichaso’s work in the bigger budget “El Cantante,” and showcases his ability to — by narrating a story via the dominant use of flashbacks — create an effect that is very intimate. In both of these films, memory is the invisible main character, as the plot unwinds and the story is revealed bit by bit. The action moves in reverse as much as it does forward.

This dark film deals with Ichaso’s primary themes of assimilation, hope, issues of regret, conscience, and what he referred to as “the resilience of the Cuban soul.” At one point in the film, Ivan says, “we are our future.” This simply fatalistic perspective seems to simultaneously convey both the infinite hope and devastating hopelessness he represents. The characters struggle to answer the questions “What are we?” and “What can we be?” The film shows us that the answer to both question is the same.

Ivan arrives on a raft, or “Balsero,” that washed up on the shores of opportunity, baptized anew by Biscayne Bay. He finds the father he has never known, and begins a new life full of promise and possibility — a life he has dreamed all of his difficult life in Cuba, one that hints at a past marked by murder and prostitution. Putting his past behind him may be more complicated than pursuing his dreams.

A disturbing mystery begins to unfold as we learn more about Ivan’s journey to Miami, the secrets from his past, and what he is willing to do to keep them.

“At the end of the day, the movie will open in its natural habitat: a cinematheque,” Ichaso said. “Regardless of the logic or times we live in, maybe this is the place, where films like this should open at — where only people seeking an experience like this will meet to see it. That's the way it was then and that's the best way there is, now. The Miami Beach Cinematheque will be the home for ‘Paraíso’ just like 30 years ago, when another cinematheque opened ‘El Super’ at an almost underground event that grew into film legend. Friends, like Rene Fuentes-Chao, Natalio Chediak, Alex Rios, Orlando Rojas and Dana Keith, bring the films in, one way or another, and keep the dream alive. None of us got into this wanting anymore more than that. So here it is. A lucky day. A weekend with a film. Welcome home, ‘Paraíso.’”

Ichaso will attend Friday’s screening of this Official Selection of the Miami International Film Festival and New York Latino Film Festival. The film, in Spanish with English subtitles, will be shown after an intro by Alejandro Rios, Founder of the Cuban Film Series in Miami. The premiere reception will feature live guitar. Tickets are $12 or $10 for MBC members.
Friday, Oct. 23, Saturday, Oct. 24 and Sunday, Oct. 25 at 7, 8 and 9:15 p.m.

The “Model Citizens” Inprov Group Presents
Cine-Improv Live

Miami's-based improv actors perform unscripted theater based on your suggestions, in the art of “long form improv," rather than the typical comedy you see at the clubs and on TV, including film dubbing, the "Armando Diaz Experience," and a live improvised "movie" based on the life experiences of one of our audience members, with stylistic parody, edits, comedic characters, and other scenic devices.
Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 8:30 p.m.

Global Lens
WWW: What a Wonderful World
Directed by Faouzi Bensaïdi/Morocco/2006/99mins. With Nezha Rahil, Faouzi Bensaïdi, Fatima Attif

Souad is a prostitute whose best friend is Kenza, a tough traffic cop. Kamel is a stony-eyed contract killer who receives his hit orders via the Internet — he is also Souad's favorite customer. Moroccan actor–director Faouzi Bensaïdi's promiscuously stylish film is a new vision of an old culture, unveiling an uncommon Casablanca caught in a world wide web of associations and consequences. In French and Arabic with English subtitles.
Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 8:30 p.m.

Vu Par Varda Series
The Gleaners and I
Written, directed, and narrated by by Agnès Varda/France/2000/82 min.

Voted the best documentary by the National Society of Film Critics, among other awards, Agnès Varda's universally acclaimed 'wandering-road documentary' focuses her ever-seeking eye on gleaners: those who scour already-reaped fields for the odd potato or turnip. Her investigation leads us from forgotten corners of the French countryside to off-hours at the green markets of Paris. In French with English subtitles.
Thursday, Oct. 29 at 8:30 p.m.