The Machine

To stay or to leave the island is the ¨to be or not to be¨ for the majority of Cubans. This was my dilemma and I eventually migrated to the United States. I still don´t have an answer even after directing "The Machine¨. I hope, however, that this film will connect with many people who, like me, are searching for answers to life´s most essential questions about happiness, belonging, and sense of place.

Lázara, the wife of Juan Carlos Sánchez Bermúdez, lives a chaotic life with her strong-willed grandmother, stubborn husband, spoiled child, and her dog. She has long believed that she will find peace by going to live in the United States. She dreams of electric coffee makers, a house with a swimming pool and a yellow School Bus that picks up her child in the morning, every day, and takes her to a better life. However, her husband Juan Carlos has always embraced the difficulties in Cuba. He doesn´t mind the tropical heat or having to wait for hours in line at the state-run ice cream parlour Coppelia. These tensions are brought to the forefront when he receives a telephone call from the US embassy announcing a possible and absolute change of lifestyle for the family. This phone call triggers a waterfall of emotions that is both comic and melodramatic.

It was very important for me to make this short film because it was my last step before starting to produce my first feature film. By having the public participate in this family story, which is Cuban, personal and universal at the same time, I hoped to move them and include them in the deeply human search for happiness.

Family unity and the complicated intersection of love for ourselves and our love for others are ways to dialogue about and provide an outlet for the essential ¨to be or not to be¨, or at the very least try to provide a response that could make our lives better.

Thank you very much for your consideration.