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.

It's true that in Cuba there are double standards, there's opportunism, and there is a lack of freedom in some ways.

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

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

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.

It's often pointed out that in Cuban cinema there are too many comedies, but a sense of humor is so much part of the Cuban idiosyncrasy. Curiously, the films that have been censored the most have been humorous.

What is happiness to me is not necessarily for you. Someone once said, there are three truths: your truth, my truth and the truth. And I think that's true.