As You Like It – Like That! – World Premiere
USA / 2025 / English, Spanish / 80 min / Comedy, Drama
Director, Writer, Producer: Isabel Custer; Producer: Mark Pulaski; Key Cast: Junet Morales, Nick Puga, Jordi Vilasuso, Ruben Rabasa, Vicki Klein, Norris Joffre, Patrick Decile
Contact: isabel@abuelacontent.cl
A struggling Miami based Cuban actress and single mom must choose between a potential Hollywood breakthrough and her true passion when she attempts to direct a multicultural Shakespeare production while secretly filming a TV series, leading her to discover where her heart truly belongs.
SPECIAL GUESTS: Mark Pulaski, Juan Barriga, Junet Morales and Nick Puga.
Director Biography – Isabel Custer
Isabel Custer is a Swiss-Peruvian-Chilean filmmaker and performer whose work is rooted in personal truth, cultural nuance, and a love for storytelling in all its forms. Born in Lima and raised between continents, Isabel has lived and worked in New York, Paris, London and Miami. She holds degrees from NYU Tisch and La Sorbonne, and began making films at just 16, honing her voice across fiction, documentary, advertising, and journalism.
A passionate advocate for community-driven cinema, Isabel serves on the board of the Miami Film Lab and is the founder of the Key Biscayne Film Festival, which champions local artists and independent voices.
After an early career in advertising in Chile, Isabel made the leap back to Miami—a place she calls home—determined to tell the stories that mattered to her. Balancing life as a single parent, she began work on her debut feature, As You Like It Like That, a deeply personal project five years in the making that is now in postproduction. Along the way, she wrote, directed, and even performed the closing credits song for the film. Also a musician, Isabel has released both an EP and a full-length studio album.
With the first chapter of what she calls her “Miami Trilogy” near completion, Isabel is now developing her second feature, Merengue Queen—a bilingual dramedy about a mute Afro-Cuban girl who becomes an accidental dance celebrity. Through this next film, she aims to bring more heart, humor, and intentional collaboration to the screen, and is currently seeking creative partnerships that will help elevate her vision and bring it to life with care, strategy, and joy.
Director Statement
The film is an ode to crossing cultures – it’s Shakespeare in Miami, performed by a Latin and Caribbean community, that blends classical theater with beatboxing, rap and gospel. It’s an uplifting film that ends with the cast singing a cover of ‘I like it like that’ (As You Like It Like That) with a blooper reel that is sure to get the audience laughing as well as on their feet wanting to dance and sing.
This film showcases of Miami talent, some established and others that are emerging.
Newcomer Junet Morales electrify the screen as Caro with her energy and her ever-changing expressions, a sassy Miami Chonga who tosses off Hamlet soliloquies.
Nick Puga (iMordecai) is her irrepressible foil with never-ending optimism and hilarious Miami expressions.
Jordi Vilasuso (Young & the Restless) is a soap opera star who smolders as the incarnation of Caro’s dreams– or is he?
South Florida theater veteran Vicki Klein (Jackie Mason Musical) is Caro’s unlikely mentor who eggs Caro on and utters some great Yiddish one-liners under her breath.
Ruben Rabasa (I Think You Should Leave), provides comic relief as Caro’s uncle who unwittingly falls into the role of Touchstone in As You Like It.
Patrick Decile (Moonlight) plays an overly zealous Shakespeare fan who falls for Caro.
Known for her national tour of Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds, Noelle Nicholas brings the house down with her incredible voice and her undeniable screen presence.
The rest of the cast is riddled with local indie film darlings like Krystal Milie Valdez (Fallen Fruit) and Nadezhda Amé (Lone Rider) as well as standup comedians with huge social media followings like Pedro Nicolas Souffrant (@ridiculous_comedy) and Plus Pierre (@plussofunny).
The locations are also iconic Little Havana landmarks like the Society Cleaners shop, there since the 1940s, as well as the Teatro Trail (Trail Theater) also on Calle 8. Other locations that Miamians may recognize are the Spanish Monastery in North Miami and Crandon Beach Park in Key Biscayne where countless movies and shows, like the Marvelous Ms. Maisel, have been filmed.