Jorge Perugorría's "Neurótica Anónima" Wins Special Mention and Young Jury Prize at Gibara Poor Film Festival

August 2, 2026

Cuban actor and filmmaker Jorge Perugorría added a new distinction to his long career after Neurótica Anónima, the feature he co-directed with actress Mirtha Ibarra, received a special mention and the Young Jury Prize at the closing gala of the 20th International Poor Film Festival of Gibara, held July 19 in the eastern Cuban town of Gibara, Holguín province.

The film, which stars Ibarra and had opened this year's edition of the festival months earlier, competed alongside more than a dozen Cuban and international productions for the festival's Premios Lucía, the event's top honors since it was founded in 2003 to showcase films made on limited budgets.

The jury awarded the Premio Lucía for best fiction feature to the Iranian production Arcoíris (Ranginkaman), directed by Saleh Alavizadeh, while Neurótica Anónima was among the works singled out with a special mention, alongside the Spanish-Cuban co-production Primera enseñanza. The Perugorría-Ibarra film also took home the festival's Young Jury Prize, voted on by a panel of young festivalgoers assembled by the organizers.

Born August 13, 1965, in Havana's Boyeros municipality, Perugorría is one of the most recognizable faces of contemporary Cuban cinema, launched to international prominence by his lead role in Tomás Gutiérrez Alea's Strawberry and Chocolate (1993). Beyond acting, he works as a painter, producer and film director, and heads the Gibara festival itself, an event he has helped build over the past two decades. In 2024 he received Cuba's National Film Prize for his body of work.

The 20th Poor Film Festival, held July 14–19 in Gibara, drew entries from more than a dozen countries and reaffirmed its role as a platform for independent, low-budget filmmaking. The next edition is scheduled for April 2027.