90 MILES DOCUMENTARY

DIRECTOR, CONCEPT (INTERRUPTED BY COVID)

I live across the street from Chicago’s best Cuban restaurant, 90 Miles. When I first moved in, I was reading about the restaurant’s origin story and read that the owner was a Cuban refugee. At the time, the Trump-era Muslim travel ban was beginning to hit. I felt frustrated and helpless and wanted to do something about it. I was reminded of the 90 Miles owner and decided to reach out with the idea of capturing his story, an immigrant and refugee that now employed hundreds of Chicago residents. As the project unfolded, Alberto the owner revealed his his dramatic escape that he had never been back to Cuba. We talked about building a proof of concept for this project and applying for grants so that I could return to Cuba and document his experience of being back for the first time since his family escaped when he was 12.