Andy Garcia in New Documentary on Cuban Political Prisoners
By Gabriel Gasave • Friday August 10, 2012 10:12 AM PDT • 1 Comment
Celebrating Life in Union, a new documentary narrated by Andy Garcia, will premiere at the 2012 New York City International Film Festival.
Celebrating Life in Union tells the story of the tragedy and brotherhood of a group of former political prisoners from the Cuban Revolution, who fought for, and then were betrayed by their leader, Fidel Castro.
Director and human rights activist Gladys Bensimon, known for her award-winning documentary Crossing our Borders, learned that a group of these former prisoners, now in their 70s, was living and gathering weekly in Union City, New Jersey.
Gladys began attending the meetings as her curiosity grew about what really happened to the people of Cuba during the Revolution.
Garcia, a Cuban American, joined the project to support the former prisoners and to help tell their stories.
“These men were young and passionate when they initially joined Fidel Castro’s revolution in Cuba to overthrow dictator Fulgencio Batista,” explain the Director, Gladys Bensimon.
“They were students, teachers, farmers, businessmen who sacrificed everything to change Cuba for the better. After all that effort, they were betrayed by Castro and forced to lead a counter-revolution in the Escambray Mountains,” she adds.
Celebrating Life in Union juxtaposes the former prisoners’ stories with the stories of their families, who prayed they survive the firing squads that claimed the lives of thousands in a tumultuous Cuba.
The men recount the physical and mental abuse they endured during their decades incarcerated. Thousands paid with their lives and many more with their freedom and sanity to fight for a free Cuba.
The documentary will premiere this August 14 at 6:00 p.m., at Tribeca Cinemas, as part of the 2012 New York City International Film Festival.
For more information about Celebrating Life in Union, visit celebratinglifeinunion.com:
See also, The Che Guevara Myth: And the Future of Liberty, by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
Andy Garcia honored at the Independent Institute’s 2008 reception and dinner, A Gala for Liberty:
Tags: Art, Civil Liberties, Civil Society, Corruption, Integrity, Latin America, Liberty, Morality, Personal Liberty, Socialism, Terrorism, The State, Torture, Video, War 
What happened to Andy Garcia when he tried and failed to promote his movie to various film festivals and to sell it to distributors is typical of “liberal bias” and Cultural Marxism in America. The odious and blatantly biased tactics, used by the Left, to continue to make socialism and collectivism look good and for free markets ,property rights and individualism to look bad is obvious to any fair-minded person. The Left, over the years, has captured the Mainstream Media, Hollywood, Public Education and Academia to such an extent that it has indoctrinated to a large measure much of the population of America. Is it any wonder that the idea of government solving everyone’s problems has gained such an acceptance among the general population that it has bankrupted the Nation both economically and spiritually. But whether it’s Castro in Cuba or Obama in America it’s always the same Leftist tactic of promising people pie in the sky. Let’s hope that patriots like Andy Garcia can help to open people’s eyes and turn things around.
libertarian jerry | Aug 11, 2012 | Reply