Lola Amores Wins Best Actress Award at Málaga Festival

March 12, 2024

The film tells the story of a 40-year-old mother who, after a fight between her husband and her lover in a poor neighborhood of Havana, travels around the city with her 12-year-old son to escape the scandal, but a video of the incident goes viral on the Internet.

Cuban actress Lola Amores won the best actress award at the Málaga Festival for the film La mujer salvaje, directed by fellow Cuban Alan González, in his feature film debut.

In the film, Lola plays a 40-year-old mother who, after a brutal fight between her husband and her lover in a poor neighborhood of Havana, has to go out to travel around the city to find her 12-year-old son and leave with him. Her intention is to save him from the scandal, but a video of the incident goes viral on the Internet and she must also face those who judge her.

The actress, who received the Silver Biznaga on Saturday, an award given by the Spanish festival, said at a press conference that her character, named Yolanda, has "many nuances" and faces "many different situations" with an important "physical commitment."

"She is both a strong woman and a very vulnerable woman, also a bit unconscious of her actions," she noted at the press conference.

Amores, remembered by the Cuban public for her leading role in Santa y Andrés (2016), shares the set this time with debuting child actor Jean Marcos Fraga and actors Isora Morales, Grisell Monzón, Yaité Ruiz, Leandro Sen, Afrodreak, as well as Jorge Perugorría, who has a special collaboration.

"I adore you, Lola!", director and co-screenwriter Alan González expressed on Instagram.

González told the press that the film was made with "very little money" and "very few shooting days" during the pandemic.

"This film comes from a state of mind that we breathe in a violent, patriarchal and sexist society at all levels," he stated, and added that it arises from the "need to expose what happens when you are not what others expect you to be."

In many moments of the story, the image follows the protagonist while the sound reflects everything that society around her says.

"When there is a society incapable of having a functioning justice system, people have to take justice into their own hands and it becomes an even more violent world," the filmmaker asserted.

González is a graduate of the University of the Arts of Cuba (ISA) and the International School of Film and Television (EICTV) in San Antonio de los Baños. Previously he directed the short films La profesora de inglés (2015), El hormiguero (2017) and Los amantes (2018), the latter two also starring Lola Amores.

The actress has received other accolades for her role as Yolanda in La mujer salvaje. In December, she was recognized with the award for best female lead performance at the Iberoamerican Film Festival Cine Ceará in Brazil, a festival where the feature film also won the awards for best film and best sound.

La mujer salvaje is an independent production that received financial support from the Cuban Film Development Fund (FFCC).