Film about Cuban author and journalist Carlos Alberto Montaner is in the works
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The life of writer, journalist, political analyst and prominent Cuban exile, Carlos Alberto Montaner, will come to the big screen thanks to a Miami production company.
HI Media partners, founded by former director of CNN en Español, Cynthia Hudson, is producing the film based on the book “Deséenme un buen viaje” (Wish me a good trip) written by Carlos Alberto Montaner’s daughter, journalist Gina Montaner.
Montaner, who was born in 1943 in Havana and died in 2023 in Madrid, truly lived a life fit for film. He faced the threat of execution as a teenager for opposing Castro’s regime; he made a cinematic escape from the island; and he had a romance of more than six decades with his wife, Linda Montaner, which began at a dance at the Comodoro Club on one of those hot Havana nights in the 1950s when a bomb went off.
Montaner’s cinematic life was filled with encounters with political figures and world leaders and friendships with writers like Mario Vargas Llosa and his son Alvaro Vargas Llosa, and Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza. With the latter two he co-wrote the book, “Manual del perfecto idiota latinoamericano,” now in its tenth edition, and “El regreso del idiota.”
Montaner published more than twenty books, including “La libertad y sus enemigos,” “Las raíces torcidas de América Latina,” “Las columnas de la libertad,” “Los latinoamericanos,” “La cultura occidental,” “La mujer del coronel,” “Otra vez adiós” and his memoir, “Sin ir más lejos.”
A family perspective on a figure of Hispanic-American stature
Hudson, whose mother Ofelia Hudson was friends with Montaner, told el Nuevo Herald about her most enduring memories of the writer.
“When I met him, he lived in the Cervantes house in the Barrio de las Letras in Madrid, and as a girl I thought it was very romantic that a writer lived in Cervantes’ house,” Hudson says, adding that when she heard of Fidel Castro’s death she called Montaner at 3 a.m. to get his take on the news.
Hudson often invited Montaner to share his political analysis on the networks she directed. At the same time she had the privilege of considering herself his friend. They belonged to what she affectionately called the “dinner club,” with Carlos Alberto and Linda and a group of friends.
It was at one of these dinners that Hudson sensed Montaner was ill. He was suffering from a neurodegenerative disease.
The idea of freedom
The writer had already decided to exercise his freedom, which he valued so highly, in the moment of his death, knowing that Spain allows assisted dying.
He once quipped to a neighbor in Miami who asked him if he planned to retire in Spain. “No, I”m going to die in Spain,” he reportedly said.
“Montaner was the classic figure of liberal democracy, who believed that everything begins with the issue of freedom,” Hudson said, pointing out that Montaner’s centrist positions drew criticism from extremists on both sides of the spectrum.
“Montaner’s life has had an impact in many countries,” Hudson said, adding that this project will allow for a more exhaustive and personal examination of a figure who was very close to so many people who attended his lectures and read his opinion columns.
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Hudson is currently working on the script with her daughter, Leila Victoria Fernández, her partner at HI Media Partners and the author of several award-winning screenplays.
Gina Montaner is also working on the screenplay, and they are currently looking for another writer, Hudson said, noting that the film will not be ready until after 2027.
“Literary and international political figures will appear. The casting is very interesting; perhaps some people will make cameos as themselves,” Hudson said, indicating that the source material is Gina Montaner’s book, but other characters not present in “Deséenme un buen viaje” will be added.
“Entrusting this story to Cynthia gives me peace,” said Gina. “She knew my father personally, understood his world and lived much of this process very close to our family. I know this multimedia adaptation will honor the coherence and lucidity that defined his entire life.”
The film will be accompanied by a documentary produced by journalist Paola Ramos, Gina’s daughter, who filmed very intimate family moments shared with Montaner.
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Hudson said her company plans to produce other projects in English and Spanish, seeking authenticity and incorporating perspectives from different generations, a collaboration born from working with her daughter.
“I have the opportunity to tell stories that can’t be told on television, and we want to do it with greater depth,” Hudson said.
