2 Cuban actors headed for New York film festival stay in Miami

Posted on Sunday, 04.22.12

Report: 2 Cuban actors headed for New York film festival stay in Miami

Two young stars of a Cuban film featured in a New York film festival
never showed up for their movie's screening and are believed to have
slipped away in Miami.
By Diana Moskovitz
dmoskovitz@MiamiHerald.com

Two actors with roles in a Cuban movie about young people trying to flee
the communist island arrived last week in the United States to promote
the film — and promptly disappeared, reportedly after their plane landed
in Miami.

Anailín de la Rua de la Torre and Javier Núñez Florian portray two of
the stars in the movie Una Noche. Filmed in Havana, the movie is about
three young Cubans who, for various reasons, decide to try to escape the
island for a new life in the United States.

Una Noche was scheduled for the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. But
when the film had its screening in New York City on Thursday, only one
of the three actors appeared.

"Only Dariel Arrechada attended the Tribeca Film Festival premiere
screening of Una Noche on Thursday, April 19," a statement from the film
festival said. "We have not had any contact with Anailín de la Rua de la
Torre or with Javier Núñez Florian."

The Huffington Post website reported Sunday that Arrechada said all
three were supposed to be in New York on Friday, but Núñez Florian and
de la Rua de la Torre stayed in Miami. Arrechada also told The
Huffington Post that he believed the two would remain in the United States.

Arrechada told the website that he could not reach the other actors and
did not know where they were. He added that he would return to the
island this week.

All three stars were first-time film actors, according to press
materials for the film. De la Rua de la Torre was a tae kwon do champion
in Havana when a casting assistant discovered her on the beach,
according to the film's biography of her. Núñez Florian was training to
become a chef when he submitted his photo, his biography said.

Arrechada and the film's British director, Lucy Mulloy, could not be
reached for comment Sunday.

If the pair did try to stay in the United States, it would not be the
first time a film artist has come to the United States from Cuba for
Tribeca and not returned.

In 2009, Cuban filmmaker Laimir Fano Villaescusa received a special jury
mention at Tribeca for Oda a la Piña. He didn't return to Cuba, instead
asking for political asylum in the United States.

A U.S. State Department spokesman had no immediate comment Sunday.

El Nuevo Herald staff writer Daniel Shoer Roth contributed to this
report, which includes reporting by The Associated Press.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/22/2762953/report-2-cuban-actors-headed-for.html