# Jorge Perugorría and Mirtha Ibarra's 'Neurótica anónima' opens in Cuban theaters as a Goya contender

**Date:** 10/25/2026

Neurótica anónima, the feature directed by Jorge Perugorría and starring Mirtha Ibarra, opened in Cuba on Friday, October 16, at the Cine Yara on 23rd and L in Havana's Vedado district, kicking off a nationwide run. Moviegoers braved the rain to fill the theater, according to the Cuban News Agency (ACN) and Prensa Latina, and the film is screening daily at the Yara at 5 p.m.

The film is Cuba's submission for Best Ibero-American Film at the 41st Goya Awards. ICAIC president Alexis Triana highlighted that Cuba is among the 19 finalist countries. "I was truly surprised, stunned," Ibarra said of the nomination and the film's reception abroad. Perugorría, a National Film Award winner, said he was "very happy" and credited mentors such as Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío with teaching him to look at reality with humor.

Based on Ibarra's own stage play, the story follows Iluminada, an usher who has spent three decades at a Havana movie house facing closure, married to an alcoholic husband played by Roberto Perdomo. The cast also includes Joel Angelino, Carmen Ruiz, Andrea Doimeadiós and Tahimí Alvariño, along with the late Paula Alí and Mario Limonta. It is a co-production with Mexico.

The film has already screened at the Málaga Film Festival, the Havana Film Festival New York and Biarritz, and on October 20 it played to a full house at the Latin American and Caribbean Film Festival in Bern, Switzerland, Prensa Latina reported.