THE UNCLE'S REQUEST

Q&A WITH DIRECTOR RICARDO BACALLAO + ACTOR VIDAL SILVA AFTER THE SHOW! 

In New York City, an aging Cuban exile recognizes the face of a stranger: the government official responsible for killing his brother back in Cuba decades earlier, the same brother who was his young grandnephew's grandfather. Unable to confront the man himself, he turns to that grandnephew with one impossible request, to find justice for a death the family was never allowed to properly mourn. As the search unfolds, the film follows how a single act of violence in Cuba's past continues to shape a Cuban American family in the present, pulling a young man raised far from that history into a reckoning he never asked for.

Written and directed by Cuban born filmmaker Ricardo Bacallao and shot entirely in New York City, The Uncle's Request is inspired by real historical events and tells a hard line Cuban exile story that speaks to a wider immigrant experience of memory, loss, and inherited grief. The film won the Best Screenplay (Feature) award at the Manhattan Film Festival, and its recent Miami area screenings have been followed by panel discussions with the director, producers, and cast, many conducted in Spanish.

SCREENING PRESENTED BY ARTESMIAMI

ArtesMiami is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to supporting and promoting Miami artists and cultural organizations.

Founded by business and civic leader Aida Levitan, Ph.D., President of the organization, ArtesMiami has donated more than $50,000 in cash and $50,000 in in-kind promotional services to film and cultural groups and artists in 2026. One of its major 20206 initiatives was the creation of the Miami Film Fund at the Miami Film Festival, which just granted $15,000 to three filmmakers.