We follow the journeys of Ricky, a young man of Latin-American descent who finds himself torn between two worlds, and his Cuban mother, Ana, an immigrant that has been forced to grapple with the constant pressures of change that come along with leaving home. 

Ricky struggles with the weight of cultural expectations and the burden of his inability to speak Spanish fluently. He feels adrift in a sea of unfamiliarity, struggling to connect with both his mother and his heritage. As he contemplates leaving home for college, tensions between him and Ana reach a boiling point. 

For Ana, Ricky’s decision represents more than just a desire for independence; it’s a threat to their shared history and the cultural ties that bind them. As the conflict escalates, Ricky must confront the daunting choice before him: pursue a new path and risk losing touch with his roots, or remain tethered to the familiarity of home at the expense of his own growth.

Interwoven with Ricky’s story is the tale of Anita and Ricardo, a young couple living in Havana, Cuba, decades earlier. Anita, deeply rooted in her Cuban identity, faces a similar crossroads as she contemplates leaving her homeland with Ricardo for a better future abroad. 

As they sit on the Cuban seawall known as El Malecón, the famed border between the city and the sea, between Cuba and America, between the present and the future, Anita has to make a decision that Cuban immigrants know too well: hold on to the people and the traditions that have raised you, or reach out to a better future knowing you can never return.

As Ricky opens himself up to exploring the stories of his family’s past, and Ana opens herself up to bearing the pain of telling them, the story of Anita and Ricardo that precedes them unfolds, revealing the echoes of past decisions and the enduring legacy of love.



As children of Cuban immigrants who left La Habana in the 1990s (which was there known as el Período Especial, or "The Special Period"), other members of my family and I often felt disconnected from this very elusive concept of a country and a culture that had had so much influence on how we were raised, though we had never seen it and only been able to feel connected to that part of our identity through stories.

Though I'm fortunate enough to have held onto my family's language, I know that this additional barrier is something that adds to this feeling of separation for many Latin-American kids in this country, furthering this physical and emotional distance between them and the country that has influenced more of their upbringing and their home culture than they realize.

There’s a unique aspect of the decision that Cuban migrants in this era faced when deciding to leave home that now separates them that of most Latin-American immigrants, since for most of them, telling anyone of their plans to leave could easily impede their success, and for a long time the option of returning was nonexistent. So, many people had to leave without a trace and without the possibility of coming back, and for them, stories had to become the sole method by which their home stayed with them and lived on through their families.

NO SABO is about those stories and the impact they have on who we are, how we view ourselves, and our connection to our culture and what came before us.

Our incredible team has already gotten started on developing our unique method of telling this story. A big part of our approach is emphasizing the stark contrast between both locations in the story—Miami and Havana—while also exploring the parallels and similarities between the stories presented in both places. Different approaches in Cinematography and Production Design, as well as our plan to organize a B-team travel shoot for the scenes that occur in Cuba, will serve to distinguish these two locations while the dual-timeline and the incorporation of Salsa and other Cuban music genres in our score will speak to the blend of cultures that exists within our protagonist, Ricky.

REFERENCES

CUBA SCENES

Because of the specificity of our story and how heavily our locations influence our look, we've turned to photography shot in Cuba for visual references to model our scenes there after.

Each collection of photos, covering different eras from different perspectives, brings such a different approach to the table in terms of color, composition, and exposure and each one has lent us a different aspect in determining our look for this section of the film.

MIAMI SCENES

Because our scenes that take place in Miami are entirely interiors, contrasting from the totally exterior Cuba scenes and making sunlight its own symbolic character in the film, we were able to draw on more conventional visual references from other films that nailed the look we're going for.

The distinctive feelings achieved by the cinematography of these selected moments in these films give us something to draw from in our framing, lighting, set decoration, and colors. These aid us in determining a uniform but appropriate look for our classroom, kitchen, and dining room scenes between Ricky and Ana.

One of our biggest challenges is our choice to embark on a travel shoot to Puerto Rico or Catalina Island to film the scenes that take place in Cuba. This decision comes with ambition, compassion, and care to find the most authentic look and feel. So, we aim to place where this story belongs, in the backdrops of tropical vegetation, vibrant city streets, and the remarkable Caribbean sea. With your donation, you will help us with travel expenses such as flight airfare or boat fees, accommodations, additional meals, transportation, and per diem. Altogether, we will send a limited crew of Chapman students to accomplish this feat and tell this side of the story with the most authentic and careful approach.

Regarding production design, we face the challenge of capturing a moment—Cuba in the 1990s. A tumultuous time with political tensions and class inequality reflects a worn-down city full of vibrant and colorful architecture with warm people who dance salsa and play dominoes in their free time. With your donations, you will help us build an authentic domino table, dress our courtyard party, and find the perfect 1990s Cuban wardrobe.

In addition to a travel shoot, we need help raising enough money to feed our crew for our six-day shoot and ensure we are all on our best foot forward to start each production shoot day in Southern California and Puerto Rico/ Catalina Island

Additionally, we aim to keep authenticity with our actors. To ensure we find the best talent with the proper Cuban accent, we need your donations to help cover the casting fees and pay our actors a fair daily rate to give us their all on set!

We hope to raise $12-15,000 to fund our shoots in Orange, California, and Puerto Rico/Catalina Island. We will be filming in January of 2025 and our project will screen at Dodge College of Film and Media Arts on April 18, 2025.

If we're able to raise more than our pledged amount, we could have the opportunity to take additional crew on the travel portion of our shoot to provide us with more flexibility and a stronger team.

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A little goes a long way and we are so grateful for anything you can do to help bring NO SABO to life!

Thank you so much!