It began with a bus crashing through the gates of an embassy in Havana and unraveled into one of the most dramatic episodes in the history of human migrations. As Fidel Castro briefly allowed Cubans to leave the island, nearly 130,000 of them left their homeland in an unrelenting stream of vessels bound for the United States.

25 years later, the personal stories surrounding the Mariel Boatlift continue to resonate with an energy that can only be described as surreal and powerful. Weaving together these riveting stories along with rare historical images and footage from present-day Cuba, this film recreates this "explosion of 1980," a crisis that shook the very foundations of Cuban as well as American society.

With unprecedented access to archival material, and numerous interviews of “marielitos,” Pérez-Rey constructs the most complete work to date on the infamous Mariel Boatlift, which Cinema Tropical brings to the screen in memory of its 25th anniversary.

“Impressive both for effectively documenting the scope of the exodus and for capturing its participants’ disparate tales, Beyond the Sea manages to be at once historically elucidating and personally compelling.” — Lael Loewenstein, Variety

"A good documentary is both reportage and testimony and Perez-Rey has mastered both aspects. His exhaustive research for the film results in an enormous amount of never-before seen footage ... testimony to the human experience of exodus." — Miami New Times

Tuesday, April 26, 5:15pm & 7:15pm

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The Cinema Tropical Film Series is sponsored by The New York Times and is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency
For more information visit www.cinematropical.com or call (212) 592-3428