You left Cuba with your
family at 14. Your movies are from the point of view of Cuban exiles,
politically and otherwise. Were you able to film in Cuba when you made Bitter Sugar
(1996), which wasn’t exactly a flattering portrait of the current government?
We shot in Cuba
for a few days. My crew sneaked the cameras onto the island under the pretense
of doing a Caribbean architecture documentary.
Did you go?
I couldn’t get a permit to go so I stayed in Santo Domingo. But everybody else went, and
the Cuban government rented us some equipment, so I’m sure they knew exactly
what we were doing. But we were paying in dollars and they looked the other
way.
Did anybody in Cuba get to see Bitter Sugar?
Bitter Sugar became a huge, huge
video film. In 1998 a friend of ours went to Havana and after going to three different
addresses located my nanny–she was living in a little room with six people. She
called me in L.A.,
and when she heard my voice she said, "You sound just like your
father." The next thing she said was, "I saw Bitter Sugar. Why
in black and white?" My nanny that I hadn’t talked to since 1961! Then she
said, "Oh, and I also saw Titanic."
More
reviews:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115600/externalreviews
Cole, Melanie.
"Bitter
Sugar/Azucar Amarga."
(movie reviews) Hispanic v9, n10 (Oct, 1996):84
(1 page).
Comer, Brooke
"Hope and despair in Cuba." American Cinematographer v 77 Nov 1996. p. 101-2
"A review of
Leon Ichaso's motion picture Bitter Sugar. The
movie tells the story of an idealistic Cuban honor student who realizes the
hypocrisy of the system that he once endorsed. Exposing the scandalous
statistics that the Cuban government would rather hide, such as the existence
of 30,000 teenage prostitutes, it conveys a vehement anti-Castro message. This
precluded Ichaso from filming in Havana,
opting for Santo Domingo instead and adding
second-unit Havana
footage. Crucial landmarks were captured with an army-surplus camera that was
over 50 years old, and several scenes were shot with a Hi-8 camera; on
location, Kodak's 5222 Double-X stock and Arriflex BL
were used. Extras who had recently left Cuba were hired to add an authentic
feel to the movie." [Art Index]
Holden, Stephen.
"Bitter
Sugar/Azucar Amarga."
(movie reviews) New York Times v146 (Fri, Nov
22, 1996):B4(N), C10(L), col
5, 13 col in.