Award Proposed for Cuban Émigré Actor

HAVANA TIMES — Filmmaker Ian Padron on Tuesday proposed the granting of the National Film Award to Cuban actor Reynaldo Miravalles, a Miami resident since 1994 and currently visiting the island, reported the Café Fuerte website.

In an open letter, Padron questioned 90-year-old Miravalles having never received the highest distinction awarded to Cuban cinema figures by cultural authorities on the island for the simple fact of his living outside of Cuba.

“If we want a Cuba ‘with all and for the good of all’, let’s honor those who are part of the mother Ceiba tree of our culture. Let’s embrace all Cubans of good will, wherever they live and however they think,” wrote Padron.

According to the note, within only a few hours, the proposal was endorsed by numbers of Cuban artists from within and outside the country.

Miravalles is currently in Havana, where he attended the premiere of the film Esther en alguna parte, by Gerardo Chijona, on February 20 at the Chaplin Cinema – where he was greeted by an ovation in the packed theater.