Nuestro Studios, a division of Nuestro Stories, has announced the worldwide debut of its historical fiction podcast series ‘Bistec’. The series presents a cautionary tale of faith, patriotic fanaticism, and surveillance set in dystopian Cuba.
The eight-part limited series is launching with two episodes per week on Mondays in both English and Spanish. The podcast is now accessible on major platforms, including YouTube in Spanish and English, iTunes, Spotify, and Audible. A visual trailer for the audio series, which producers envision as the next step toward a feature film, can be viewed here.
‘Bistec’ tells the story of a longtime Cuban Revolutionary whose life is disrupted when a prominent dissident moves into his neighborhood. Set during the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution in 2009, the series explores Cuba's enigmatic surveillance system through a compelling narrative filled with unexpected twists.
Manuel Ruiz-Barrera, the series creator, writer, and director, noted, “Even though Bistec is rooted in Cuba, it is the story of MILLIONS of people who have no rights to privacy, and whose lives and very souls are subject to the whims of a Totalitarian state.”
The inspiration for ‘Bistec’ comes from Cuba’s Comités de Defensa de la Revolución (CDR), a government apparatus for surveillance and control. The series also draws from events in the life of Ruiz-Barrera's late grandmother, poet Micaela Ruiz, and his own experiences during documentary photography trips to Cuba in the early '90s. Prominent dissidents Amaury Pacheco del Monte and his wife Iris Hernandez, co-founders of El Movimiento San Isidro, served as key story consultants and also play characters in the series.
The series, adapted from a screenplay by Ruiz-Barrera, took 15 months to produce. It features a diverse cast and crew from countries including Venezuela, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Mexico, and Colombia. The musical score, ‘Canción de un Disidente’, was composed by nine-time EMMY-winning Maestro Alberto Bade and performed by the University of Miami Orchestra.
The cast includes Albertico Pujol, Roberto Escobar, Adrian Mas, Rene Granado, Vivian Ruiz, Mayte Vilan, Mauricio Renteria, Rene Lavan, Laura Termini, Amaury Pacheco Del Monte, Robert Ramos, Andy Barbosa, Omar Gonzalez, Michael Ferreiro, Iris Hernandez, Maggie Zafra, Alejandra Cossio, and Melissa Ann Hubiscsak. Narrators for the series are Ray Guiu, Gregg Weiner, and Scott Fortney, with additional voice actors and musicians contributing to the production.
The production team also includes executive producers Efrain Gonzalez, Felix Montelara, Armando Azarloza, Santiago Eljaiek, III, Lourdes Castillo, and Angela Sustaita-Ruiz. The series was recorded at South Point Productions and Panoramik Audio.
