My Two Moms (A Story of Separation)
Olga Merediz, a well-known New York –based actress decides to return to her birthplace, Guantanamo, Cuba to reunite with the nanny her family was forced to leave behind after the Cuban revolution. In the journey she not only discovers how truly connected they are but also the bond she shares with her complex biological mother.
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Olga MéredizDirector
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Olga MéredizWriter
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Olga MeredizProducer
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Izabel AcevedoEditor
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Project Type:Documentary
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Runtime:1 hour 20 minutes
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Completion Date:January 30, 2022
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:Cuba, United States
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Language:English, Spanish
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Shooting Format:4K
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:No
Born in Guantanamo, Cuba, and raised in Puerto Rico, Olga Merediz is an Award-winning actor and humanitarian whose career spans over four decades. Beginning on Broadway in the 80s with starring or supporting roles in such hits as Les Misérables, Mamma Mia, Man of La Mancha and Reckless, Olga has also worked with such legendary directors as Sidney Lumet, John Sayles, James Lapine, Nicholas Hytner, Wes Craven, Alan Parker, Darren Aronofsky, Jay Sandrich, and countless others.
Best known for her recent critically acclaimed work as Abuela Claudia in the Warner Bros, Jon M. Chu screen adaptation of Lin Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights: a role she originated and was
Tony® nominated for on Broadway in 2008. Critics lauded her performance in the film calling it “a showstopper”, “moving”, “a definitive standout”, “big-hearted” and “breathtaking”.
In addition to Heights, other notable work includes the films; Godmothered, The Place Beyond the Pines, Top Five, Fugly! The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, voicing and more.
On Television, Olga plays Connie in the upcoming Netflix comedy series Blockbuster. She can also be seen recurring on such shows as Diary of a Future President, Law & Order: SVU and
Bull. Other Television credits include the SKY1 action-comedy Bounty Hunters, the Emmy award-winning Netflix series Orange is the New Black, and the Emmy Award nominated series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine and many, many more.
Most recently, Olga starred opposite Alison Brie and Jay Ellis as Jojo in the upcoming Amazon feature Somebody I used to Know, directed by Dave Franco. In addition, you can hear her on
the soundtrack for the Academy Award winning Walt Disney animated feature Encanto.
Olga’s directorial debut is My Two Moms – A Story of Separation, 2022. Currently she’s developing a pilot about her Cuban family and her experiences on Broadway.
AWARDS
*2007 Drama Desk Award winner for Outstanding Ensemble Performance for her role in the Off-
Broadway run of In the Heights
*2007 Hola Award winner for Outstanding Performance by a Featured Female Actor
*2008 Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a musical
Some stories come out of you organically. This one is one of them. It was inside of me my whole life and it was time for it to see the light of day. I had an urgent need to not only re-connect with the woman who gave me so much love as a child but also to try to understand and connect with my own biological mother. By going back to the place of my birth I had a chance to do all of that and more.
Returning to Cuba and more importantly, shooting in Cuba was not an easy feat. It took courage to go back in time to a place where I had so many unanswered questions, so many lost childhood memories, so much generational pain. The Cuba I experienced is not the Cuba we left. The country is isolated, run-down, there is a lack of the most basic goods and freedoms and yet this personal exploration gave me the chance to come full circle and come home to myself.
I also wanted to celebrate the caretakers in my life: my two moms. I wanted to invite the audience to look back at their own lives and see who really made a difference and helped them become the human beings they are today.