The Cuban Embassy in the United States celebrated today a cultural evening, in which the film "El mundo de Nelsito", by Cuban filmmaker Fernando Perez, was screened and a selection of Prensa Latina photos was inaugurated.
The presentation took place as part of the XVI Ibero-American Film Festival, the result of a joint effort with the Ibero-American Association of Cultural Attachés and its affiliated embassies.
The event brought together cultural personalities, promoters, entrepreneurs, activists, accredited diplomatic personnel and members of the Cuban community living in the United States.
In her welcoming remarks, Ambassador Lianys Torres, Chargé d'Affaires of Cuba's diplomatic representation, noted that the feature film 2022, released last year, is the result of "the hard work and talent of some of our nation's best filmmakers, producers and artists".
Referring to the photographic exhibition, he said that it focuses on moments of Prensa Latina's struggle since its foundation by Cuban leader Fidel Castro, Comandante Ernesto "Che" Guevara and Argentine journalist Jorge Ricardo Masetti on June 16, 1959.
The current selection -he explained- belongs to the exhibition 65 Years in the Service of Truth, recently presented in this capital and in New York City in the context of the celebrations for the anniversary of that news agency.
Considered the most important living Cuban filmmaker, Perez's work is distinguished by a critical approach, where the aesthetic and narrative register moves between classic cinema, experimentation and language research, according to critics.
"El mundo de Nelsito" is his latest fiction feature film and features José Raúl Castro, Isabel Santos, Laura de la Uz, Edith Massola, Jacqueline Arenal, Carlos Luís González and Paula Alí among its main actors.
Those present at the screening gradually became involved in the plot starting with the car accident suffered by Nelsito, a 16-year-old autistic teenager who ran away from home and upon being taken to the hospital from his stretcher smiles and takes out his imaginary pen to reveal the dark and hidden side of those around him.
Now recovered, Nelsito returns home and is greeted by the same characters that danced in his imagination with the worst attributes of the human being, but now back to reality he observes his simple and real neighbors. Where are the limits between the real and the fictitious, is the question to the viewer.
At the end of the film, some of the attendees had words of praise for Pérez's work, which they defined as "amazing".