If you’re finding this for the first time: El Pinero is a bilingual narrative short film set on Cuba’s Isla de la Juventud. It follows Cole Smith, an American who travels to the island after his father’s death to find his grandfather’s grave — and ends up uncovering a family history he wasn’t prepared for. It’s rooted in a real and largely forgotten chapter of the American-Cuban story: the communities of American settlers who came to the island in the early twentieth century, built lives there, and were eventually absorbed by time and revolution. We’re in development right now, working toward a shoot on the island.
Welcome, Ava
I’m glad to share that Ava Abreu has joined the team as Graphic Designer and Production Assistant.
Ava is a film student at State College of Florida, where she’s focused on directing, cinematography, and technical theatre. She’s worked across film and theatre in a range of capacities: directing, assistant directing, production design, and running crew. Her most recent work includes directing two PSA-style shorts and directing for her college’s play festival, Mall Stories of the 80’s. I’m glad to have her on board.
The Website
The biggest concrete update this month is that elpinerofilm.com is up and running.
It has information about the film, the story behind it, and the crew. It has a support page where you can contribute through Ko-fi. It’s the central place for everything El Pinero, and building it out has been one of the more satisfying parts of this past month. Having somewhere real to point people, somewhere that reflects what the project actually is, makes a difference in how it feels to be doing this work and proves to funders that we mean business. If you haven’t been there yet, that’s the place to start.
The Script
We submitted draft seven to Shore Scripts for professional coverage and got detailed notes back. It was a useful process, the kind of structured outside read that forces you to see the script as something other than the thing you’ve been living inside for months. We’ve also gotten feedback from a few trusted people too. A new draft is in progress. The story is getting sharper.
Fiscal Sponsorship
One of the things I’ve been researching lately is fiscal sponsorship, and I want to explain what that actually means because I think it’s relevant to where this project is headed.
Fiscal sponsorship is an arrangement where an established nonprofit organization agrees to act as a financial sponsor for an independent project. Under that arrangement, donations to the project become tax-deductible, because they’re technically going through the nonprofit. For independent filmmakers who aren’t nonprofits themselves — which is most of us — it’s one of the more practical ways to access grant funding and give donors a real tax benefit without forming your own organization from scratch.
For a project like El Pinero, it opens doors. Certain grants are only available to fiscally sponsored projects. Certain donors are only able to give when there’s a tax deduction on the table. It’s a structural thing, not a creative one, but it matters. We’re in the early stages of figuring out which sponsoring organization is the right fit. I’ll share more when there’s more to share.
How You Can Help
The most useful things right now:
Visit elpinerofilm.com and share it with someone who might connect with this story. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook. And if you’re in a position to contribute financially, you can do that too on the website — it goes toward the real costs of keeping this in motion. And if you’ve already given: thank you. It means something to have people who believe in this before it exists.
More soon.
— Robert
Enjoying the journey? You can support El Pinero directly here.