World Premiere / USA, Cuba / 2025 / English and Spanish / 74 min / Drama
Director, Writer, Producer; Benjamin Orifici: Writer; Luis Abel Oliveros; Producers; Wendell Laurent, Contact: havanacoyoytes@gmail.com
Key Cast: Roberto Romero, Mayra Mazorra, Annabel Novo, Juannalise Ramos, Georbis Martinez
In the shadow of war, Julia, a Cuban American, travels to Havana to collect her grandmother’s ashes—a woman she never knew but whose life choices have shaped her own. While there, she meets three Cuban contemporaries and comes face-to-face with the life she might have lived had her father not been sent as a boy to Miami during “Operation Peter Pan.”
SPECIAL GUEST: TBD
Director Biography – Benjamin Orifici’s Havana Coyotes is the first American feature shot in Cuba with a fully Cuban cast since 1959, exploring US–Cuba biases and shared patriotism. A director who champions “Film Terroir,” creates intimate, place-driven, handcrafted films that challenge audience expectations through distinctive visual and emotional worlds. Benjamin holds an MFA from the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema, advises Anthology Film Archives, and remains active in Cuba-related cultural work through AFLFC.
Director Biography – Jerome Cohen-Olivar
Benjamin’s latest film, HAVANA COYOTES, is the first American film shot in Cuba, with an all-Cuban cast, since the 1959 Revolution. A narrative feature, COYOTES, explores the prejudices, misconceptions, and deep love of country that persists between the US and Cuba.
“Throughout my career, I’ve adhered to the concept of what I call “Film Terroir,” meaning my films are intimate, personal and exhibit the characteristic flavor and tone of the region in which they’re filmed. Place is very important to me and plays prominently in my work. Artisanal is another word that interests me–meaning handcrafted, without mechanization. Through it all, my goal remains constant: I strive to challenge viewers’ expectations by crafting unique visual and emotional landscapes to better understand a region in particular, and the world at large.”
He holds an M.F.A. in film directing from the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema in New York City and is a member of the Board of Advisors for the Anthology Film Archives in Manhattan. Through the years, he has maintained strong connections to Cuba as an Advisory Board member of the NYC cultural foundation, American Friends of the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba (AFLFC). He is co-founder of the film production company, Celluloid Rain Productions, based in New York and Paris. Benjamin relocated to the Miami with his family during the pandemic and is an associate professor of film at Lynn University.
Director Statement
During production, we encountered daily electricity blackouts, severe storms, and intense heat. The all-Cuban cast and Cuban support staff worked selflessly to make this film a reality—even in the face of intrinsic danger to their own liberty.
I believe that HAVANA COYOTES captures the zeitgeist of today’s Cuba – the trials and tribulations of present-day Habaneros trying to make their way in a perpetually-sanctioned, post-pandemic, terrorist-labelled economy. COYOTES is a love story that exposes the current social and political truths while, at the same time, reveals a sincere pride and love of country.
In private screenings in Havana, I heard the same refrain: “We’ve never seen this in any films; this is what’s going on right now in Cuba.” My Cuban co-story writer and I worked for over a year on this script; through many false starts, we finally captured a vital story that could be executed on private property with the resources available. No actor was ever filmed on state-owned property.
I started visiting Cuba in 2015 as a board member of a New York Cuban cultural foundation. Now, after 30+ visits, I am still in awe of this city, so full of passion, music, rhythm – amid such economic calamity. When I look back, the seeds of HAVANA COYOTES took root during that first trip. Ten years later, it has finally emerged—fully grown—and ready to spread its seeds to viewers who have but a glancing stereotype of this rich and wondrous country.