Jean Marie Offenbacher

An intellectual leaves the Cuban revolution and 'underdevelopment' behind only to find himself at odds with the ambiguities of his new life in the 'developed' world. A portrait of alienation, of an outsider with no clear-cut politics or ideology. A stranger in a strange land struggling with old age, sexual desire and ultimately the impossibility for the individual to belong in any society. The film's narrative is a collage of flashbacks, daydreams, and hallucinations comprising live-action, animation, and newsreel footage assembled to suggest the way personal memory works, subjectively and emotionally.

When Syria was admitted to the "Axis of Evil", I decided to move there, alone, to record ordinary life and create a document to stimulate healthy curiosity about this Arab community to counter the vilification that dominated the media and White House rhetoric.