Cuba many only be 90 miles from the United States, but politics has created a much greater chasm. In pre-revolution Cuba, Fidel Castro aspired to play professional baseball in the United States. In The Bases are Loaded, Baseball Hall of Fame legend Monte Irvin returns to Cuba to reunite with former teammate and Cuban baseball icon Connie Marrero after a 50-year separation. The journey reveals the cultural, social, and political complexities of Cuban baseball and America’s relationship with the island nation, while highlighting a unique friendship. The film offers a unique opportunity to experience Cuba and its thriving baseball culture, the beautiful, romantic, and electric streets of Havana, and the music, the beating heart of the Cuban people.

"Nagel's compelling documentary culminates with the Irvin-Marrero reunion". --  Chicago Sun-Times

“The Bases Are Loaded is a dynamic and enjoyable addition to baseball’s documentary collection" -- La Prensa del Béisbol Latino

"This agreement comes, fittingly, as fans ready themselves for the 2007 Major League Baseball season and I am excited to partner with Feugo Entertainment in this endeavor. They have a passion for the film and want to bring it to key audiences around the world," -- Director Jeffrey Nagel 

DVD available....
 

The album is Algo Ritmo by the Club Musical Oriente Cubano is scheduled for release in April 2007 by Fuego Entertainment Music International (FEMI).

Digging deep into the roots of Afro-Cuba and beyond, the tracklist includes a Cuban flavoured Mexican bolero, a Spanish pop song turned into a son - a “pop-son” - and a previously unreleased and unconventional bolero-son-cumbia penned by Club Musical Oriente Cubano member Cheo Losada).

Algo Ritmo is mainly a tribute to legendary figures of Cuban  music, such as Pérez Prado, Benny Moré, Armando Oréfiche, Orlando De La Rosa, Compay Segundo, Miguel Matamoros, Roberto Torres, Ignacio Piñeiro, Celia Cruz, Sexteto Nacional, La Sonora Matancera, Guillermo Portabales, Manuel “Puntillita” Licea, Julio Cueva, Ñico Saquito, Reynaldo Hierrezuelo a.k.a. Rey Caney, Joseíto Fernández, Abelardo Barroso, a tribute that mainly privileges lesser known gems of these greats, in a wide range of genres.

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Scheduled for release in the 2nd quarter of 2007, Zafiros Locura Azul is the award winning story of Los Zafiros, a very popular Cuban vocal quartet of the 1960’s. This film, honoring the life and times of Hugo Cancio's  musician father Miguel Cancio has won broad acclaim and several awards. These include Best Actor Award for Luis Alberto Garcia at the 1998 Cartagena Film Festival and nomination for Best Film. In 1998 Zafiros Locura Azul was nominated for Best Film at the Gramado Film Festival and in 1997 won the Audience Award at the Havana Film Festival.

"It had the audience moaning with laughter and remembrance. In Havana it has broken all attendance records and won a prize at the Havana Film Festival. For the Miami audience, it was like going home." -- Peter Watrous, New York Times

More about Zafiros Locura Azul...

Photos from the premier of companion documentary Los Zafiros: Music from the Edge of Time...

Gold In Ecuador:
In post-production 

Gold in Ecuador is the story of a small mining town of Portobello. In 1916, Mellick Tweedy traveled on a mule throughout the jungle of a small mining town in Ecuador, which became one of the biggest gold exporters in South America. Fifty years ago, a US company, SADCO, abandoned the "American Shaft," one of the oldest gold mines in the world, leaving the town of Portobello and its people in ruins. Today, the people of Portobello have a new hope, or do they? The Americans are back in Portobello searching for Gold!