TREATMENT
Produced and Directed by Gail Reaben


In the United States we can dream to our hearts content and with work, perseverance and luck, make it happen. We encourage our children,
"You can be anything you want to be", “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, “Anything is possible”.

A young girl looks into the stars and dreams of becoming an astronaut. She imagines herself in the silence of space, looking at a constellation
as she circles the Moon. In school, science comes easily for her and she studies hard. The dream is always in front of her, leading her to her
destiny. With encouraging parents, she’s off to Space Camp and on to college. Before you can say 3-2-1 We Have Lift-Off, her dreams are a
reality.

On television, dreams have expanded to gargantuan proportion in shows like ABC’s Home Makeover and the dream-queen herself, Oprah.  
"What's your dream? We can make it happen!", she says.  And with the wave of her magic wand, people's wildest dreams come true.  For
Americans, dreams can happen at any age. A 6 year old child can write a book that gets published or 70 year old astronaut John Glenn can
dream of going back into space and in the blink of an eye, he’s traveling through G-Forces once again.

But what happens to people's dreams when they live under in a dictatorship? Under the leadership of  Fidel Castro and brother Raul Castro, it
is, with some exceptions, a society where book stores are only allowed to sell books dealing with the Revolution or political ones approved by the
State.  It's interesting that Cuba has one of the highest literacy rates in the world, at an astonishing 99%.  If they qualify academically, every
child can go to university for free.  

Raul Castro has just announced that Cubans, for the first time, will be allowed to stay and visit the tourist hotels on the island.  Until now, they
have not even been allowed to step through their doors.  With a Cuban's $20/month salary, they won't be able to stay there, but they can now
see the inside of these formerly forbidden places.  

Cubans, with some exceptions, are not allowed to leave the country, even for a visit. They live in the most beautiful and romantic island in the
Caribbean and have endured many hardships over the last 50 years, including political and economic sanctions that should make any small
country crumble. Yet, they continue to thrive, still dancing and singing.

To most Americans, Cuba is a country shrouded in mystery. Our media reports mostly the political agenda of the country and not of the people
themselves and who they really are. What is it about their hearts and souls that makes them able to rise up over all this adversity and become
stronger. Perhaps it’s their dreams. Some philosophers believe it is the dreams of an individual or a society that motivate us to climb the next hill
or the next mountain . . . Or maybe it’s something as simple as the uplifting Cuban music or the beautiful turquoise waters that inspires their
souls.  

In the environment in which they live, what kind of futures do they see for themselves? What does a teenager say when he is asked, “What do
you want to be when you grow up?“ What are their dreams? With the state of Castro’s health and advanced age, and the election of Raul
Castro as President, the country is on the precipice of change. Perhaps their dreams are as well.

Against a backdrop frozen in time from the 1950’s, this film will ask those questions and explore their aspirations and dreams through interviews.
They will be done in the houses and towns where they live and work . . . the lean, tanned field worker in a sugar plantation, a seasoned
Partagas cigar factory worker, a colorful Havana street band or perhaps a beauty shop where they still sit under hair dryers. Or even, perhaps,
since Cuba has one of the finest film schools in the world, a young filmmaker. In order to show the rich diversity of its people, it's traditions and
it's old world architecture, filming will be done in Havana as well as rural areas in the countryside, rich with tropical beauty.

RT: 90-110 Minutes