April will mark the first PBS “American Masters” broadcast of Mecky Creus and Adrienne Hall’s Freedom is a Verb, a short documentary about artist Edel Rodriguez’s journey and work (see the trailer here). The film focuses on Rodriguez’s bestselling visual memoir of young life in—and treacherous escape from—Castro’s Cuba. In it he recalls the harrowing Mariel boatlift, the mass emigration of Cubans who were on the last boats from Mariel Harbor to Florida between April 15 and Oct. 31, 1980. In total over 100,000 Cubans arrived and were welcomed. Could that happen in Trump’s America?
Rodriguez hosted a screening in Miami for friends and family, some who also left their homeland almost 50 years earlier. The 17-minute film that also covers his work as an editorial graphic commentator is a tapestry of intimate personal encounters and heartfelt memories—and is a must-see.
At the screening with Edel’s parents and sister, Irma, who passed away last month from pancreatic cancer. “The screening in Miami was one of the last great moments we all had together,” he says.
Answering questions with the filmmakers, Mecky Creus and Adrienne Hall.
Photography by Chantal Lawrie
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