This event sparks the islanders’ imagination, and as El Isleño continues to show the same film every night, the villagers see it differently each time, projecting their own desires and frustrations onto the story.

They begin to connect their lives with the film’s plot, interpreting the struggle of Robin Hood as their own fight against Gavilán’s oppressive rule.

By the end, the villagers’ lives and actions are reflected literally on the movie screen itself, symbolizing a complete convergence of cinema and reality, with the audience facing themselves as projected spectators.

[10] El elefante y la bicicleta was produced at the peak of the Cuban crisis known as the "Special Period", during a moment of profound change and uncertainty.

[3] During production on El elefante y la bicicleta, Carlos Aldana, the head of ideological matters for the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), wrote to Alfredo Guevara, the creator and then-president of ICAIC,[11] recommending he postpone the project.

[14][15] Tabío agreed, and handed over his responsibilities on El elefante y la bicicleta to director and illustrator[9] Constante "Rapi" Diego.

[10] El elefante y la bicicleta was nominated for Best Spanish Language Foreign Film (Mejor Película Extranjera de Habla Hispana) at the 1996 Goya Awards.