Film Forum

Born in Cuba, Manuel Arce moved with his family to Miami following the 1959 revolution.  He began his professional career as a child actor in radio soap operas for Voice of America. In Miami, he would meet fellow Cuban expat Leon Ichaso. Their first collaboration was a short surrealistic film called Aluminum. In the mid-1970s, Manuel found himself working again with Leon at a production company specializing in commercials for the Hispanic market. Among the many campaigns they created were America’s very first Spanish McDonald’s commercials. While still working at the agency, they secured the rights to El Super, an off-off Broadway play, developing it into a feature film, with Manuel producing, Leon directing, and the two collaborating on the screenplay. The seed money for EL SUPER came from three commercials Ichaso and Arce had created for Sazón Goya for their own production company, which would go on to create commercials for Fortune 500 companies, as well as music videos for Julio Iglesias, Rubén Blades, Celia Cruz, Marc Anthony, and many other important artists. The team’s next feature film project was CROSSOVER DREAMS, starring Blades. Arce’s other writing credits include episodes of Michael Mann’s Miami Vice. He also co-wrote and co-produced the 1-hour television film Gryphon for the PBS series Wonderworks. For the past 20 years, Arce has been a judicial interpreter.

Mari Rodríguez Ichaso is a passionate New Yorker since becoming an exile from Cuba in 1969. She has been a journalist and documentary filmmaker for many years. She also is Leon Ichaso’s sister and has lived through the perils of being part of a very creative (and stubborn) family of Cuban intellectuals, filmmakers & fierce lovers of freedom & democracy. Her documentary CUBAN WOMEN: BRANDED BY PARADISE was highly praised. She works for Vanidades Magazine and CNN en Español.

Supported by a Humanities New York Action Grant

Related Films