EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTOR

Joe Cardona

Joe Cardona was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, after his Cuban parents settled there in the 1960s. At age 4 he arrived on the sunny shores of Miami, which by South Florida standards makes him a native.

Reared on episodic television and album-oriented rock radio, Cardona always fancied himself a writer/director so he began working on indie projects fresh out of college � creatively and independently funding his work.

He has directed 16 feature-length documentaries, mostly dealing with issues of cultural identity and history. (Nou Bouke, Haiti's Past, Present and Future; Café con Leche; The Flight of Pedro Pan; Jose Marti: Legacy of Freedom; Havana: Portrait of Yesteryear; Honey Girl; White Elephant; Celia the Queen). Twelve of the documentaries have aired on PBS and throughout Europe and Latin America.

Cardona has also directed, produced and written two feature films (Water, Mud and Factories and Bro). Both received prestigious awards, such as the Flickapalooza Film Festival's "Best Screenplay" (2001) for Bro.

The documentary Celia the Queen (about the life of Cuban salsa singer Celia Cruz) premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and attained national and international recognition and acclaim. His work as co-producer of the PBS music series Latin Music USA was featured domestically on the PBS network and internationally via the BBC.

In 1997, Cardona, along with partners Mario de Varona and Michelle Zubizarreta, founded Kids in Exile Films, an independent film company, which operated for 13 years. Seeking new creative and business horizons, Cardona then founded and still operates Royal Palm Films.

In 2011, Cardona garnered three regional Emmy nominations and won the award for the documentary on Haiti, Nou Bouke. The film, which was co-produced with The Miami Herald, was part of a newspaper series selected as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Cardona holds a bachelor's degree in mass communications from Florida International University.

Top Story

MARIELA CASTRO

Mariela Castro, Cuba and human rights

In the wake of several Cuban dissidents’ enlightening visits to the United States — among them Yoani Sánchez, Rosa María Payá and Berta Soler — came last weekend’s arrival of Raúl Castro’s daughter, Mariela Castro, who attended (with special dispensation from the State Department) a ceremony in Philadelphia to collect, of all things, a human rights award. The brilliant American comic Carol Burnett once said, “Comedy is tragedy plus time.” This expertly sums up the Cuban political polemic. Observed, studied and lived over time, Cuban politics of the last half century remains a classic tragedy that has played out as farce over 54 years.

JOSÉ PAÑEDA

Miami Heat broadcaster José Pañeda’s warm style

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HISPANICIZE

Hispanicize ignites Latino success nationwide

This week Miami Beach was swept up in Hispanicize, an intense, five-day Latino pow wow where ideas are explored, concepts analyzed and there’s been enough Latino synchronicity to electrify a continent.
AMERICANA

Reared on rock ’n’ roll at Hollywood Sportatorium

Rock and roll music has shaped American identity for over half a century. The music and its derivative culture have influenced, motivated and riled up multiple generations of jean-clad, puka-shell wearing, long-haired Americans — including ethnically hyphenated ones like myself.
LUNCH BREAK

Savoring every minute, starting with a real lunch

One of the most ironic axioms during the span of my life has been the notion that you don’t really value time until you’re running out of it.
RADIO WAVES

Herb Levin: the Jewish godfather of Miami’s Cuban radio

Cuban radio has always been a political and cultural beacon within Miami’s exile community. Many of my childhood memories are tinged with the passionate sounds of my grandparents’ radio.
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Miami’s cigar allure

One of the distinct factors that distinguish Miami from other cities is its peculiar scents. Growing up, cigar smoke seemed to surround me.
GEORGE SANCHEZ CALDERON

George Sanchez Calderon’s work: art, memories, Americana

Art Basel set up shop in Wynwood and provided Miamians a glimpse into the art world. But before “socially relevant” art was a prerequisite in an artist’s portfolio and before Cuban-American identity had any cachet, Miami-bred Cuban-American artist George Sanchez Calderon was creating art that spoke of and to his surroundings in the most provocative and profound way.
CUBA POLICY

Engaging Cuba without the passion

As the Cuban revolution recently observed its 54th anniversary there is unfortunately quite a mound of failed policies, hollow rhetoric and ineffective strategies to take note of and hopefully learn from by those promoting democracy and human rights on the island.
SMART PHONES

Smart phones: brief and impersonal

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THE MIAMI SCENE

An unexpected find on Calle Ocho

Several weeks ago a couple of friends dragged me to the most satisfying dining experience one can have in Miami. The restaurant is in Little Havana and no, the menus aren't in Spanish and the food isn't Cuban. It is Hy Vong, a Vietnamese restaurant which stands on Calle Ocho — a stone's throw from Versailles — and yet the experience is so unique you may as well be in downtown Venus.
ARISTIDES PUMARIEGA

Caricaturist ‘Aristide’ survives in Little Havana

I stood across the street from the Cuba Ocho Gallery on Calle Ocho and 15th street, smoking a smooth Cuban Churchill cigar (made in Nicaragua) when I noted picturesque caricatures that adorn the columns that sustain the building. They are quaint designs of Cuban music’s greatest performers and rhythms.