MARCIA JARMEL
Director/Producer/Impact Manager

MARCIA JARMEL is an award-winning independent filmmaker based in the San Francisco Bay Area and Director of Filmmaker Services at the Jewish Film Institute where she oversees the Institute's renowned Filmmaker Residency and Completion Grants programs, serving a national and international community of independent filmmakers. She co-founded PatchWorks Films with husband-collaborator Ken Schneider in 1994 and has been producing, directing, and managing impact for their slate of award-winning films for over two decades. Together, they’ve produced five feature documentaries and many shorts including Los Hermanos/The Brothers (PBS/Arte film) which was nominated for Best Music Documentary by the International Documentary Association and awarded Best Documentary at the Woodstock Film Festival.

Marcia's work has been funded by public broadcasting's Independent Television Service (ITVS), Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB), and the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), the National Endowment for the Arts, and many others. She has taught both undergrad and graduate film courses at NYU and Chapman University and has been honored with residencies with Working Films, the Fledgling Fund, SFFilm, the Kopkind Colony, and BAVC's Media Maker. She has served as a juror for the Emmys, BAVC MediaMaker, and many film festivals. Information on her work can be found at patchworksfilms.net.

KEN SCHNEIDER, ACE
Director/Producer/Editor

KEN SCHNEIDER is a Peabody- winning producer/director who has also edited nearly 40 feature documentaries for PBS, HBO, Showtime and Al-Jazeera, and others. He received a Peabody as Co-producer and editor of Soft Vengeance. He edited the Oscar-nominated Regret to Inform, described by the New York Times as “unforgettable ... exquisitely filmed, edited and scored.” Other films he edited have earned multiple Emmys, a Columbia-Dupont, three Peabodys, an Indie Spirit and top awards at the Sundance Film Festival. Ken is drawn to stories of war and peace, human rights, artists, American history, contemporary social issues, and Cuba. He works in English and Spanish. www.kenschneidereditor.net 

Ken has taught at NYU-Tisch, Chapman University, and San Francisco City College, and lectured at the SF Art Institute, University of San Francisco, and Harvard. He has been a panelist for National Endowment for Humanities, the Emmys, and various film festivals.

ROBERTO CHILE
CINEMATOGRAPHY-Cuba

Roberto Chile is Cuba’s pre-eminent documentary cinematographer, working on hundreds of films for ABC, CBS, NBC, and the Discovery Channel in the U.S.; NHK and TV Asahi in Japan; and Canal Arte in France, along with producing internationally acclaimed films for Cuban TV. His most recent film is KORDAVISION: THE MAN WHO SHOT CHE GUEVERA, about the creation of the iconic image that adorns tee-shirts everywhere. In addition, his startlingly beautiful photographs have shown in galleries and museums around the world.

RAFAEL SOLIS
CINEMATOGRAPHY-Cuba

Rafael Solis is one of Cuba's most renowned cinematographers. He has shot more than forty documentaries and ten feature films, winning national and international awards. His recent riction film, EL VESTIDO DE NOVIO/HIS WEDDING DRESS, was nominated for a Goya.

DAVE SPERLING
Principal CINEMATOGRAPHY-U.S.

Dave Sperling has been a DP for 25 years, most recently on GIRL ON THE TRAIN. He shot the Cable Ace winning television series REMEMBER WENN and the Emmy nominated MATHNET, as well as numerous documentaries including HBO’s 50 CHILDREN: THE RESCUE MISSION OF MR. AND MRS. KRAUS, and the Peabody- and Emmy-award winning BILLY STRAYHORN: A LUSH LIFE. Sperling is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

BILL WEBER
Co-Editor

Bill Weber is a San Francisco based documentary editor. He directed and edited the documentary feature THE COCKETTES which premiered at the 2002 Sundance and Berlinale festivals and co-directed and edited WE WERE HERE (Sundance, Berlinale, 2011), TO BE TAKEI, (Sundance,  2014), and THE UNTOLD TALES OF ARMISTEAD MAUPIN (Audience Award SXSW, 2017). His editing credits include: HBO’s MOONLIGHT SONATA: DEAFNESS IN THREE MOVEMENTS, FEELINGS ARE FACTS; THE LIFE OF YVONNE RAINER (Berlinale), THE GALAPAGOS AFFAIR, (Telluride , Berlinale) and the Oscar nominated documentary short film, THE FINAL INCH.

ERéNDIRA OLIVERA
Associate Producer

Eréndira Olivera has been working in film and television since 2007. She began her career as an independent filmmaker making videos for Oxfam Mexico, Oxfam GBS, and Save the Children. In 2014 she moved to California where she has produced and edited award-winning short films and web series for rLoop, TE Connectivity, and Stanford SEED.  She studied Media and Communication at ITESM CCM in Mexico City.

DANIEL CHÁVEZ-ONTIVERAS
Associate Editor

Daniel Chávez-Ontiveros is an award-winning Mexican filmmaker and editor. His first edited featured 499 YEARS (dir. Rodrigo Reyes) won the Special Jury Prize - International Feature Documentary at HotDocs 2020. He was nominated for Best Editing in a Documentary Film at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. Daniel studied at the National School of Cinematographic Arts (ENAC-UNAM) in Mexico City and in the MFA Documentary Film and Video program at Stanford University.

ALDO LÓPEZ-GAVILÁN
Composer

Praised for his “dazzling technique and rhythmic fire” in the Seattle Times, and dubbed a “formidable virtuoso” by The Times of London, Cuban pianist and composer Aldo López-Gavilán excels in both the classical and jazz worlds as a recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber-music collaborator, and performer of his own electrifying compositions. He has appeared in such prestigious concert halls as the Amadeo Roldán (Cuba), Teresa Careño (Venezuela), Bellas Artes (Mexico), Royal Festival Hall (U.K.), Nybrokajen 11 (Sweden), The Hall of Music (Russia), and Duc de Lombard et Petit Journal Montparnasse (France), as well as venues in Canada, Santo Domingo, Colombia, Spain, Greece, Hong Kong, Burkina Faso, Germany, and Austria and now the U.S.

WILL STORKSON
Sound Design

For more than 20 years, Will Storkson has been performing, composing, recording and engineering music, and designing and mixing sound for a variety of media. In 1999, he founded AudioSFX after leaving Lucasfilm THX to create the ultimate one-stop shop for post-production sound. As a composer and sound designer, Storkson approaches sound creation with a hybrid approach for films looking for that unique and vibrant sound design for each project. This is Will's 3rd collaboration with PatchWorks.

DOUG BLUSH
Consulting Producer/Editor

Doug Blush is an award-winning director, producer, editor, writer and cinematographer consults on many projects, recently including the 2019 Academy Award winning PERIOD. END OF SENTENCE, the 2018 Academy Award winning ICARUS, and, as supervising editor, the 2013 Oscar-winning 20 FEET FROM STARDOM. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as well as the American Cinema Editors (ACE).

MARC SMOLOWITZ
Consulting Producer

Marc Smolowitz is a multi-award winning independent filmmaker. With three decades of experience in the film and media business, Smolowitz is a director, producer and executive producer who has been significantly involved in 50+ successful independent films. Wearing many hats across the entertainment industry, the combined footprint of his works has touched 200+ film festivals and markets on five continents, yielding substantial worldwide sales to theatrical, television and VOD outlets, notable box office receipts, and numerous awards and nominations. His long list of credits includes films that have screened at top-tier festivals such as Sundance, Berlinale, Venice, AFI Docs, IDFA, DOC NYC, CPH: DOX, Tokyo, Melbourne, Viennale, Krakow, Jerusalem, among others.

CLAUDIA MARIA BUENO
Field Producer 

Claudia Maria Bueno is an up-and-coming Cuban film producer. Claudia makes her own films, and was tapped to supervise production assistants on THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS, the first Hollywood film to shoot in Cuba since the start of the U.S. embargo.

Dr. robin J. hayes
IMPACT PRODUCER

Dr. Robin J. Hayes recently rose from Staff Writer to Co-Executive Producer on the forthcoming Fremantle series SANDOKAN & MARIANNE from the producers of TRANSFORMERS and QUEEN OF THE SOUTH. After graduating from NYU, Robin joined a radical circus and led dozens of humanitarian aid missions to rebel communities in Mexico, Cuba, and Nicaragua. Then, she completed a PhD at Yale and taught international affairs at several prestigious institutions. Robin reinvented herself as an artist by writing the award-winning documentary BLACK AND CUBA — which was exhibited at dozens of film festivals, museums, and universities (and currently steams on Prime Video). She also wrote critically acclaimed book LOVE FOR LIBERATION and has collaborated with Gunpowder & Sky and OBB Media, as well as participated in The Black List/Women in Film Episodic Lab and the Women in Film Shorts Lab funded by Google. 

Featuring

Aldo López-Gavilán Junco
Ilmar Gavilán

The López-Gavilán Family

Daiana García
and the Orquesta de Cámara de La Habana

Guido López-Gavilán
and the Orquesta de Cámara Música Eterna

Harlem Quartet
featuring Jaime Amador (viola), Felix Umansky (cello), Melissa White (violin)

and Joshua Bell

Original Music

Aldo López-Gavilán

Original Compositions

Aldo López-Gavilán
SGAE Sociedad General de Autores y Editores.
All music courtesy of the composer.
www.aldomusica.com

Arboles en el Aire
Back to Cuba
Caipiriñame
Eclipse
Epílogo
Ota Kamala
Hermanos
Maracujá
Memories of a Grandfather
Momo's Tale
Oddudua
Ota Komala
Pájaro Carpintero (arr. Ilmar Gavilán)
Pan con Timba
Quicktune (with Ilmar Gavilán)
Shona
Talking to the Universe
Untitled
Viernes de la Ciudad
Wondering

Additional Music

1812 Overture
Composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Performed by the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra

Arabesque No. 1
Composed by Claude Debussy
Performed by Rodrigo Almeneiro

Caissons Go Rolling Along
Composed by Edmund Louis Gruber
Performed by the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra

Cumbanchero
Composed by Rafael Hernández Marín
Arr. by Guido López-Gavilán
Performed by Harlem Quartet

Danza Española
Composed by Enrique Granados,
Arr. by Fritz Kreisler
Performed by Orquesta de Cámara de La Habana

Estrellita
Composed by Manuel María Ponce
Performed by Joshua Bell and Aldo López-Gavilán

Four Seasons
Composed by Antonio Vivaldi
Performed by Joshua Bell and the Orquesta de Cámara de La Habana

Frère Jacques
Traditional
Arr. and performed by Aldo López-Gavilán

Girl from Ipanema
Composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim & Vinicius de Moraes
Sung by Ilmar Gavilán

Guagancó
Composed by Guido López-Gavilán
Performed by the Orquesta de Cámara Música Eterna
Courtesy of the composer

Magnificent Seven Theme Song
Composed by Elmer Bernstein
Performed by the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra

Mi Menor
Composed by Guido López-Gavilán
Performed by Christina Altimira and Ilmar Gavilán
Courtesy of the composer

Los Muñecos
Composed by Ignacio Cervantes
Arr. by Guido López-Gavilán
Performed by the Orquesta de Cámara de La Habana
Courtesy of the arranger

Piano Concerto No. 3
Composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff
Performed by Aldo López-Gavilán and the Orquesta de Cámara de La Habana

Por Una Cabeza
Composed by Carlos Gardel
Performed by Ilmar Gavilán and Issac Jin

The Pikeman’s March
Traditional

Praeludium and Allegro
Composed by Fritz Kreisler
Performed by Ilmar Gavilán

Rhapsody in Blue
Composed by George Gershwin

Cadenza
Composed and Performed by Aldo López-Gavilán

Star Spangled Banner
Composed by Francis Scott Key
Performed by Ilmar Gavilán

Take the A Train
Composed by Billy Strayhorn
Arr. by Paul Chihara
Performed by the Harlem Quartet and Aldo López-Gavilán
Courtesy of Music Sales & Reservoir Media

Variantes, Corales, Leyenda
Composed by Guido López-Gavilán
Performed by Cristina Altamira, Sō Percussion, and Ilmar Gavilán
Courtesy of the composer

Music Clearance

Barb Hall
Clear Cut Inc.

Studio Recording

Oktaven Studios, Mt. Vernon, NY
Ryan Streber, engineer

Executive Producers

Sally Jo Fifer
Jonathan Logan
Sandie Viquez Pedlow  

Contributing Producers

Nion McEvoy and Leslie Berriman

Supervising Producer

Shana Swanson
David Eisenberg

Field Producers

Claudia Maria Bueno
Ana Iris Iglesias Gómez

Consulting Producers

Marc Smolowitz
Doug Blush

Associate Producer

Eréndira Olivera Benítez

Story Consultants

Sidsel Siersted
Lisa Fruchtman
Sharon Wood

Advisors

Bill Martinez
Catherine Murphy
Kenn Rabin
Rosa Marquetti

Legal Services

Justine Jacobs, Focus Media Law
Noah Wald, ITVS

Accounting

Denise Donovan

Translation

Ernesto Wong
Daniel Chávez Ontiveros
Alex Velasquez
Jennifer Rodriguez

Still Photography

Najib Joe Hakim
Melissa Bunni Elian
Ivan Soca Pascual

Transcription

Raina Glazener

Trailer

Jeremy Troy

Additional Footage

George W. Bush Presidential Library
Center for Democracy in the Americas
DTS
William Clinton Presidential Library
The Heidelberg Project and Tyree Guyton
Danny Kaye International Children’s Award UNICEF (1991)
Festival Napa Valley
Kennedy Presidential Library
Live From Lincoln Center
Barack Obama Presidential Library
Pond5
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
SFJAZZ
Sphinx Organization
Univision - Channel 41, Patterson, N.J.
Wieniawski Musical Society of Lublin (Poland)

Archival Photos

Fábrica de Arte Cubano
Getty Images
López-Gavilán Family
National Endowment for the Arts
Reina Sofía School of Music, Madrid

Additional Materials

Associated Press
Cuban Institute of Radio and Television
CNN
Havana Jazz Festival
NPR
PBS Newshour

Filmed on location

Basilica de San Francisco
Cass Tech High School
Chautauqua Institution
Edmonds Center for the Arts
Festival Napa Valley
Henry Ford Museum
Jazz at Lincoln Center
Oktaven Studios
Cuban National Theater
SFJazz
Shai Liu Performance Center
Steinway & Sons
Teatro Marti
The Heidelberg Project
Wayne State University
WDET Radio

With deep gratitude to our funders

ITVS
Jonathan Logan Family Foundation
Latino Public Broadcasting
National Endowment for the Arts
Nion McEvoy and Leslie Berriman
Fledgling Fund
Owsley Brown Foundation
Rick Swig
Catalyst Fund
Lucius and Eva Eastman Foundation

and

Wendy Sumner
Sillins Foundation
Shenson Fund
Vicki Abeles
Stephen LaBonge
Stephen & Paula Arnold

Made with support from SFFILM’s FilmHouse Program, underwritten by the Kenneth Rainin Foundation

Archival transfers courtesy of BAVC's Preservation Access Program, supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities

Fiscal sponsor

Center for Independent Documentary

Editors

Ken Schneider
with Bill Weber

Cinematography - Cuba

Roberto Chile
with Rafael Solis, Raúl Prado

Cinematography – U.S.

Dave Sperling
with Andy Black, Vicente Franco

Location Recording - Cuba

Javier Figueroa
Sergio Muñoz
Jorge Luis Chijona

Location Recording - U.S.

Sean O’Neil
Chris Strollo
Gautam Choudhury
Tom Bergin
Emile Bokaer
Brian Buño

Associate Editor

Daniel Chávez Ontiveros
Abel Correa

Consulting Editors

Doug Blush
Nick Dorsky

Additional Cinematography

Ken Schneider
and
Daniel Lehrecke
Thad Sabolboro
Henry Cooper
Daniel Chile
Brian Buño

Sound Design and Mix

Will Storkson

Graphics

Matthew Baldwin
Bay Area Film Company

Online Editor

Jesse Spencer
Media Optimizing
Ibon Olaskoaga

Color Grading

Gary Coates

Driver – Cuba

Javier Rojas
Luis Sanchez Cabrera

Production Assistants

Mica Jarmel-Schneider
Julian Zentner

Very Special Thanks

Shona Baum
Isaac Bunch
Ana Margarita Cabrera
Doug Chang
Dave Matthews
David Eisenberg
Carlos Iglésias
Jaden Jarmel-Schneider
Inti Herrera Nuñez
Legacy Arts, Cristina Altamura
Charles LeTourneau
Susan Sillins
Susi Walsh
Sarah Stephens
Larisa Martínez
Deborah Sunya Moore
Rick Walker
Andew Wilk
Steve Wogaman
Matthew Zelle

Special Thanks

Vicki Abeles
Rochy Ameneiro
Rodrigo García Ameneiro
Richard & Marjorie Beggs
Ellen Bruno
Gabe Chui
Herve Cohen
Laurie Coyle
Dan Damman
Dave Degge
Jonathan Duffy
Guetty Felin
Anne Flatte
Robin Fogelman
Yissy García
Debra-Ellen Glickstein
Julio Cesar Gonzalez
Conner Gorry
Geese Graphix
Ruth Gumnit
John Haptas
Jason Headley
N.C. Heikin
Stephen Henderson
Isaac Jin
Randall Kline
Edward Lee
Richard Levien
Ruy López-Nussa
Néstor Martí
Laura McCormick
Lorne MacDougall
Richard O’Connell
Casey O’Leary
Micha X. Peled
Lucy Phenix
Susana Pous
Gabe Quintana
Angela Ristow
Yuriko Romer
Kris Samuelson
Lilly Schwartz
Sally Rubin
Marianne Sciolino
Veronica Selver
Adam Silwinski
Wendy Sumner
Matthew Syrett
Chris Thomas
Sonia Tolbert
Laura Wagner
Gaby Westergren & Drew Wilson
Aubrey Wynn
Sebastian Zubieta