El Turista Imaginario

Despite never having ventured more than 100 miles from where he was born, a Cuban poet travels the world with his
mind and through his pen. El Turista Imaginario is a feature documentary about Luis Martínez - a local legend, friend, mentor, and community elder.

Synopsis

75 year old Luis Martínez has traveled to Rome, Istanbul, Beijing, and probably your hometown with a poem to prove it. He’s been to the court of Napoleon, among the ancient Brahmin, and within the old kingdoms of Africa but he has never traveled more than 100 miles away from home.

His imagination is his jumbo jet; thousands of poems journal how far and deeply he has traveled. Irrepressibly curious, Luis has never stopped learning despite leaving formal education in the 4th grade. He teaches himself geography and history by talking to tourists and reading.

This is the story of his mind, life, difficulties, and the powerful impact he has had on his community through his pure pursuit of knowledge.

Jordan is co-founder, CEO, and a director of Flipbird Films. She has over ten years of experience building teams and bringing impactful stories to life. Jordan directed a short documentary in collaboration with Van Jones for Sundance Now, worked with Richard Branson’s Virgin Unite and Mark Zuckerberg’s Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; as well as created dozens of music videos and branded pieces of content. Her photography was featured as the cover of the NYTimes Bestselling author Shaka Senghor’s memoir ‘Writing My Wrongs’. Currently she is writing a graphic novel based on her magical bulldog. Jordan’s purpose is to create art and tell stories that inspire hope for the masses. She believes that storytelling has the power to shift perspectives, touch hearts, and enlighten minds.

Cormac Siegfried is an entrepreneur, brand strategy consultant, and producer. As a principal at Cunningham Collective, Cormac worked with leadership teams to define transitions at a wide range of companies; Moody’s, RMS, LWCC, Xerox, SAFEhealth, Visby Medical, Digital.ai, NAM, and others. He excels at inspiring a team and building momentum towards realizing big goals, whether those be inventing a new technology (his patent in radio localization cited by Disney, Volkswagen, and Pana- sonic, among others), orienting a large insurance business towards bettering a state (LWCC in Louisiana), or going to Cuba to

film a documentary (El Turista Imaginario). He founded Green Run Productions to house a growing slate of treatments, scripts, rights, and documentaries. Cormac has piloted small airplanes over every major mountain range west of the Mississippi, crossed the Pacific Ocean in a 47’ sailboat, and survived an 11 hour rescue on a remote island in the South Pacific.

Giovanni Guerra
Producer

Giovanni Guerra is a Cuban whose intelligence, enthusiasm, and ability to communicate has made him a valuable ambassador for his chosen home town, Trinidad. He is a resilient quick thinker, learner, and a natural entrepreneur. Through the course of his life, and despite many hardships, he has made charcoal, farmed, sold bread, worked in hospitality, and, most recently, been a photographer helping tourists discover the real Cuba. Gio, as his friends know him, is a mentee of Luis, who inspired him to learn new languages and seek knowledge. He is a much loved member of his community and always shares his good fortune with his neighbors.

El Turista Imaginario would not be possible without Gio, who brought Luis’ legacy to Cormac in January of 2021, found the Cuban crew talent, managed the procurement of permits, and countless other vital duties.

Oswald Méndez is a Cuban-American business and creative leader. Oswald has held leadership roles in companies such as BBC America, FOX International Channels/MundoFox, Wondery Media [Advisor, CMO], McCann-Erickson/Universal McCann, and The Vidal Partnership. Throughout his career, he has managed a combined budget portfolio of over $1.5 billion that includes client billings, revenue and marketing budgets. At BBC America, Oswald led record breaking audience growth for BBCA’s tentpole content, creating pop culture phenomena and communities of fandoms. Oswald has been recognized by AdAge as a Media Maven for innovation in Branded Entertainment. He now spends his time advising C-Suites and start-ups through his firm, Collective Transformation.