Maria Bacardi To Host Screening Of “Cuban Food Stories” As Part Of Sag Harbor Cinema’s “Artists Love Movies”

The Sag Harbor Cinema Art Center continues its “Artists Love Movies” Series with Cuban Food Stories, on Sunday, August 12 at 6 p.m. at the Pierson High School Auditorium in Sag Harbor. Artist and actress Maria Bacardi will host the event.

The documentary by Asori Soto features his personal journey to find and preserve the flavors of his youth in a time after Castro’s death when ingredients and cooking styles were limited. Soto covers nine stories, created after visiting distinct, remote Caribbean locations.

The film reflects the struggle that the population faced after the 1990’s food shortage and collapse of the Soviet Union and how the mouthwatering contemporary cuisine was influenced by many different parts of the Caribbean cultures.

Variety Magazine describes the film as “eye opening” with “hand-crafted charm that perfectly suits the stories and food he focuses on.”

Bacardi is a Cuban native who sought asylum with her family in Spain until she moved to New York City to finish school and to pursue an acting career. In 1991, she moved to East Hampton and started the not for profit theater company, Oddfellows Playhouse. She is also the founder and honorary co-chair of the Community Fellows of the Watermill Center.

She also is an artist and has exhibited at the Renee Fotouhi Fine Arts East, Elaine Benson gallery, Ashawagh Hall, Guild Hall, Benson-Keyes Art, The Watermill Center, Hampton Road Gallery, Arlene Bujese Gallery and Karyn Mannix Contemporary. Making her music debut in 2013, the album, Deseo, highlights some traditional Cuban songs.

“I chose this film because it is a loving ode to Cuban ingenuity and flavor,” Bacardi reflected. “In this case, in a country where food is scarce and ingredients are hard to come by, Asori Soto has been able to comb the countryside to find the right people who have, by hook and by crook, been able to create typical cuban dishes which had been long forgotten.”

Curator and head of the Programming Committee, Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan will join in a post-film discussion.

Tickets are $10 for adults, free for kids under 14, and also available at the door.

Pierson High School is located at 200 Jermain Avenue in Sag Harbor. For more information and for reservations, visit sagharborcinema.org.