The Disappearance of Two Young Cuban Actors, Stars of ‘Una Noche’

Last week, two Cuban actors who were en route to the screening of their film “Una Noche” at the Tribeca film festival in New York, disappeared during a layover in Miami.

It has been speculated that the two were defectors.

Reporter Susan Stone interviewed the actors during the Berlin International Film Festival last February and speaks to anchor Marco Werman about her interview with them.

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Marco Werman: I’m Marco Werman. This is “The World”. Last week two Cuban actors left Havana en route to a screening of their film at New York’s Tribeca film festival. They disappeared during a layover in Miami. Javier Nunez Florian and Anailin de la Rua seem to have defected, though no one knows for sure since they haven’t been seen since. Reporter Susan Stone interviewed the two and their British director last February at a film festival in Berlin, Germany. She describes the movie they made together, “Una Noche”

Susan Stone: The film tells the story of a day in the life of twins Elio and Lila and their friend, Raul. Raul and Elio are secretly building a raft to escape Cuba and they’re racing through the city trying to collect everything they need to build that, from wood to inner tubes to a GPS service and liquid glucose. Now when the sister, Lila, finds out, they decide to bring her with on this dangerous 90 mile trek to Miami.

Werman: You also interviewed Lucy Mulloy, the director of Una Noche. She had lived in Cuba for some time before shooting the film and she told you that her film reflects a sad reality in Cuba.

Lucy Mulloy: There was one day when I was actually doing a casting and an actor came in and he asked me when we were going to be shooting and I told him, as I was kind of telling everyone, I was always like, “Oh, in a couple of months.” And he said that he wouldn’t be around because he was making his own raft and that he would be leaving on that raft. That was something that I found kind of terrifying when you’re in the middle of making a movie and you’re kind of involved in it all, but that happened at a few different times.

Werman: What’s interesting, Susan Stone, is that when you asked Anailin whether the film presented a realistic aspect of life in Cuba, this is what she had to say at first.

Anailin de la Rua: [Speaking Spanish]

Werman: She says that Una Noche, the movie, is not Cuba. “This is a story that the director wrote and we are the characters that try to live this story as if these people really existed in real life. I think this story could happen anywhere in the world.” But then she went on a bit later, Susan, to say this situation did happen in real life, but not to all Cubans. So what did you think of this reaction at that moment, Susan?

Stone: Well, to be honest, you know, the question I asked them was how does this film portray the Cuba they know? And since we see a lot of different things in this film, we see, sure, brutal police officers, we see mothers forced into prostitution, but we also see beautiful scenes in street culture and music and I wanted to know, you know, what parts of this reflected her life. And, you know, the reaction I got was very, very defensive and I could tell there was a bit a fear in there.

Werman: Also, during the interview Anailin, the actress, also said she was hoping the film would open doors for her and her fellow actors. Do you think she was already thinking about leaving Cuba?

Stone: You know, it’s hard to say. The trip to Berlin was the first trip outside of Cuba for all of the actors involved. They were very excited to be there, but they were really, really very much looking forward to coming to New York. The US did seem to be an important goal to them. But they were also happy to be representing the film and Anailin, she thought the film was really the most important thing that has happened to her, you know, in all twenty years of her life, and with the current state of what’s going on, I guess that has definitely been true for her.

Werman: So, Susan, what did you think when you heard the news that Javier and Anailin disappeared at Miami International Airport?

Stone: Well, it’s filmic all right. I was very surprised by it. I know they do have a close relationship with Lucy Mulloy and this does leave her in a bit of a bind in a sense because it would be quite difficult I imagine for her to continue with the next film that she has planned for the series, “Una Noche Mas”, which was set to star both of those actors as well. But I’m from South Florida myself and there’s a very strong Cuban community there and there is a lot of support for people who do leave Cuba and I think going into the Miami International Airport, you see Café Cubano, you see guava pastries, you hear people speaking your language, and I can certainly imagine in their shoes, there’s something very tempting about staying in that world and moving forward there.

Werman: Reporter Susan Stone in Berlin. Thank you very much for telling us about your meeting with these two actors and director of Una Noche. Appreciate it.

Stone: You’re welcome, Marco.

Werman: You can find out more about the making of Una Noche. We have a video with director Lucy Mulloy and scenes from the film at theworld.org.

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