Mari Rodríguez Ichaso is a Cuban American magazine editor, author, filmmaker and producer.
Biography
Early life and education
Mari Rodriguez Ichaso was born in Havana, Cuba, the daughter of Justo Rodriguez Santos, one of Cuba's leading poets, and Antonia Ichaso, a pioneer writer of Cuban radio. She immigrated to New York City with her parents where she has lived since 1969.
Career
After being known mainly for her work in TV and print journalism, she made her solo directorial debut in 1999 with the documentary "Cuban Women Branded by Paradise" exhibited in movie festivals all over the world, including the Miami International Film festival and the Chicago Film Festival, as well as the prestigious One World Human Rights Festival in Prague. Her documentary "Made in Cuba: Children of Paradise", which explores the social phenomena of growing up in a communist society, premiered on 2001, as part of the Miami International Film Festival. Since 1980 she has written the book "Recuerdos Compartidos", Editorial Playor/Madrid 1985; written for several magazines like Vanidades and produced segments for various television programs for Univision and TNT Latin America. In 1996 she co-produced the critically acclaimed movie "Azúcar Amarga", directed by her brother Leon Ichaso. In 2005 she wrote, directed and produced the documentary The Last Interview on Cuban novelist Guillermo Cabrera Infante and is preparing the documentary The Last Cubans, an oral history that explores the life experiences of the older generation of Cuban exiles. Ms. Rodriguez Ichaso is a Fellow of the Cintas Foundation for Cinema and Art, which she won in 2002-03). In May 2020, she took a position as a columnist with CNN Espanol.
Marriage and children
She was married to movie director Orlando Jimenez Leal and has one daughter, Mari-Claudia Jimenez, a writer and art lawyer for Herrick Feinstein, a New York firm with a prominent art law, art recovery and restitution practice. Her brother is Leon Ichaso, film writer and director.
