The Film Alina de Cuba Begins Shooting Soon

August 8, 2022

On the eve of beginning production of the film inspired by her life, Alina Fernández Revuelta, the so-called rebel daughter of Fidel Castro, would like this creative experience to generate something more than a biographical film and become a work of learning about Cuban reality.

"I would like people who see this film to have the feeling at the end that they have learned something," Alina said this Thursday in a conversation with CiberCuba. "For me it is essential that Cuba be discussed."

Alina de Cuba, directed by Spanish filmmaker Miguel Bardem, will begin filming in mid-August in scenes from Bogotá and Cartagena, Colombia. Given the impossibility of filming in Cuba, the producers seek to use the colonial architecture and Colombian locations to recreate Havana.

Last Wednesday details were revealed about the production preparations and cast, which will be led by acclaimed actor James Franco, who will play Fidel Castro; Mía Maestro as Naty Revuelta, Alina's mother; and Ana Villafañe in the leading role.

"I am very pleased with the cast selection and I think Ana Villafañe is a wonderful actress... I believe she will be the true discovery of this film," commented Alina, who admits to having been minimally involved as a consultant in the film creation process.

Villafañe, a 33-year-old singer and actress, is a native of Miami, with a Cuban mother and Salvadoran father. She has developed a rising career in film and theater since 2005, and received great recognition for her role in the Broadway musical On Your Feet, in which she portrays Cuban-American star Gloria Estefan.

Alina believes that Villafañe has exceptional qualities and predicts that her portrayal of the character "will be a revelation."

The film is a long-delayed project due to various financial and production obstacles, but all indications are that the definitive time to complete it has arrived.

Produced by Mankind Entertainment, based in Austin, Texas, and Maven Screen Media, based in New York, the film centers on Alina's biography, the product of an extramarital relationship between Natalia Revuelta Clews (1925-2015) and Fidel Castro (1926-2016). The script was written by José Rivera, nominated for an Oscar for The Motorcycle Diaries (2004), and Cuban-American playwright Nilo Cruz, winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

Although the film script takes elements from the testimonial book Alina: Memoirs of the Rebel Daughter of Fidel Castro (1997), Alina insists on clarifying that "the plot of the film is not based on the book."

"The book is one of the sources of the script, but this is not a film about the book," she stated. "I have talked with the director for hours, but the screenwriters and filmmakers have had total freedom to create."

Despite being a film from independent producers with a modest budget, Alina said she felt confident that the rigorous work of the filmmakers involved will result in a work that is "careful and faithful to the reality of Cuba."

Alina, who resides in Miami, plans to attend some initial shooting days in Colombia.

If production plans are fulfilled, the film could be ready by the end of this year or the beginning of 2023, marking three decades since Alina left Cuba through Havana airport, with false documents and disguised as a Spanish tourist, in 1993.

As part of the film's promotional project, a complementary documentary will also be made under the title of Revolution's Daughter, which will be filmed by director Thaddeus D. Matula in the same settings as Alina de Cuba. The documentary will capture the behind-the-scenes aspects of filming Alina de Cuba and explore recent Cuban history from the perspective of Alina Fernández Revuelta.

After an absence of 21 years, Alina returned to Havana in mid-2014 to visit her mother who had been seriously affected by a stroke. Naty Revuelta died the following year and Alina was with her at the moment of her death.

The story of Alina de Cuba encompasses the family drama of the protagonist, who did not know who her father really was until adolescence.

The figure of Naty Revuelta, considered one of the most beautiful women of Havana society of her time, gained international notoriety after her romantic relationship with Fidel Castro.

Naty was an employee of the Esso company and was married to a famous cardiologist, with whom she had her first daughter, Natalie, who has resided in the United States since 1961.

Her first contact with the still-unknown revolutionary leader Fidel Castro occurred in November 1952 during an event at the University of Havana. After the attack on the Moncada Barracks and Castro's imprisonment on the Isle of Pines, the bonds between the two deepened and, upon receiving amnesty in 1955, the romantic relationship ensued.

Castro was in Mexico when he was informed of the girl's birth, on March 19, 1956, but did not meet Alina until his triumphant entry into Havana in January 1959.

Alina did not know the truth until she turned 10 years old and grew up with a defiant spirit, frequently at odds with her mother's revolutionary loyalty creed, who maintained her intact devotion to Fidel Castro until the end of her days.