Tropical Park

Hansel Porras Garcia · 2025 · 88 minutes
Nov. 9 · Regal 2 · 2:00 p.m.

During a driving lesson, two Cuban siblings — a newly arrived trans woman and her estranged conservative brother — face each other for the first time in years, with Miami passing silently outside the windows. 

Programmer’s Note

After immigrating from Cuba, Hansel Porres Garcia was taught to drive by their father in the parking lot of Tropical Park, a popular equestrian and community center in Miami. Porres Garcia returned a few years later to teach their mother. “There was something tender and clumsy in those moments — something quietly profound,” they’ve said. “That was the seed of this film.”

In the opening moments of Tropical Park, Frank (Ariel Texido) calls out to his sister Franny (Lola Bosch), inviting her to join him for a car ride. The image is loaded with signifiers that will soon take on more specific and loaded meanings: a Trump flag hangs outside of Frank’s home; Fanny has died hair, dangly earrings, a pink water bottle, and fluffy slippers. It’s like the setup for a cheap joke. Over the next fifteen minutes, as they begin to open up to one another, we learn that the siblings have only recently reunited after years of estrangement, that Frank first learned of Franny’s transition when he picked her up from the airport, and that Franny’s arrival has caused tension between Frank and his wife, who comes from a conservative family.

Tropical Park was shot in a single take from the back seat of a car. It’s a risky move for a filmmaker for many reasons, among them the loss of one of cinema’s most powerful tools, the human face. We glimpse Frank and Franny only in profile or at distance through the front windshield. Instead, Texido’s and Bosch’s performances are expressed through their voices and body language. Tropical Park is a complex and emotionally compelling version of the kind of conversation so many people are craving right now. At times, Frank and Franny talk past each other, and our allegiances shift often between them, but they are constantly reminded of their love for one another and, so, make a conscious effort to empathize with and better know one another. And in doing so they cause viewers to do similar work. “The worst of it all is that I do understand you,” Franny tells Frank.

From Porres Garcia’s director’s statement:

“The intention was to capture a real-time fragment of life — a glimpse of Miami, a breath in the lives of these characters. Though portrayed by actors, the story is built from lived experience — theirs, mine and that of many others in our community. Everything was improvised, grounded in memory and shared history. Tropical Park is, at its core, an act of listening.”

---

Hansel Porras Garcia (any pronouns welcome) is a queer Cuban-born artist and filmmaker based in Miami whose work is rooted in Hispanic multiculturalism, with a particular focus on the Cuban diaspora. Their storytelling explores themes of identity, family and migration. Their feature, Febrero, won the Knight Made in MIA Award at the 2023 Miami Film Festival. Their short films have been featured at renowned festivals worldwide, gaining acclaim for their nuanced narratives and cultural resonance. Hansel manages the Cinematic Residency at Oolite Arts, Miami’s largest artists-support organization, where he nurtures and uplifts emerging filmmakers in the local community.

Hannah Imbert Morell graduated in 2018 with a degree in Film, Radio, and Television Production from the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana, Cuba. She has worked on documentaries, short films, and feature films, notably debuting as a screenwriter with her first feature, Por que lloran mis amigas? In addition to her work in film, Hannah is the author of four published books and is currently developing her first stage play.