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.

"Lisandro Pérez-Rey's excellent documentary is a riveting account of one of the most extraordinary events in U.S. immigration history... Pérez-Rey's succinct documentary does a superb job of shedding light on circumstances that, for a variety of reasons, have been misrepresented and badly misunderstood." — Ken Fox, TV Guide

"The film is most powerful when it allows its subjects to talk about the oppressive regime they fled... the survivors' hopes, dreams and emotions always remain in focus." — Raven Snook, Time Out New York

Aetna Theater at Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

Guild Theatre

The Cinema Tropical Film Series USA is sponsored by The New York Times.

For more information visit www.cinematropical.com or call (212) 592-3428