Roberto Monticello

Roberto Monticello was born in Cuba. He began his career writing and directing for the stage, receiving numerous awards and grants, before becoming a film director and settling in New York City. He is one of few Cuban-born directors living in the U. S. with permission to shoot in Cuba. In addition to writing and directing films, Monticello has devoted much of his life to human rights and environmental causes. He has journeyed three times to Ethiopia during the famine, once as a camp director, for which he received the UNICEF Relief Dag Hammarshjold Medal 'In the Name of the World's Children'. He was arrested, beaten and threatened several times while traveling through South America in pursuit of Nazi war criminals. He has traveled throughout Central America as a troubleshooter for human rights organizations, lived with Peruvian Indians in the Andes and recorded human rights abuses in Afghanistan during the Russian presence. He has concentrated great effort on ending the U. S. Embargo and Travel Ban to Cuba, bringing a boatload of medicine twice a year and making films in Cuba to promote a peaceful resolution. He is producing two Cuba-themed documentaries - one, "Looking For Cuba," which deals directly with the U. S. Embargo - and with writing partner _Doug Klozzner_ has written two Cuban-themed feature scripts: "Son Cubano", an action-filled tale about the seeds of freedom in Cuba, and "Free Again: La Lupe's Story", the true life drama of legendary singer La Lupe. Recently back from Darfur, after being wounded on a mission for the Red Cross, Roberto was given the 2007 Film Humanitarian Award at the Fifth Queens International Film Festival.