Cubans joke and satirize everything that life gives them, and I think that's a positive characteristic.

There was a time when emigration from Cuba was a definitive separation. There were no visits. In the '80s, '90s, it was incredibly difficult. I'm not the only one interested in this as a filmmaker - other Cuban filmmakers have dealt with it, too, because it's such a part of our reality.

I think that this necessity to travel, to see, it's part of human nature.

I don't think that the reality of Cuba is perfect, but it doesn't cleave to the negativity, either, with which some people see it.

Cuban public is special - they participate, generate a lot of energy, both in a positive and negative sense. It's always an expressive audience.

The base of artistic pursuit is ambivalence and complexity. And that's what I try to do.

In all of my movies I've tried to address the need for man - not just Cubans - to have a dream and to fight for that dream, even when he doesn't achieve it. It's a form of happiness.