Cuba Awards the 2025 National Film Prize to Actress Mirta Ibarra
Mirta Ibarra. X/ @BarbaritaEnt
March 28, 2025 Hour: 11:32 am
She deserves the award for her legacy, continuity, versatility, and long trajectory in Cuban cinema, the ICAIC stated.
On Thursday, Cuban media reported that actress, screenwriter, and documentarian Mirta Ibarra received the 2025 National Film Award in recognition of her long career in Cuban cinema.
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“I wasn’t expecting it; I feel very happy and excited,” she said after learning about the award granted to her by the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC).
“She deserves the award for her legacy, continuity, versatility, and long trajectory in Cuban cinema—not only as an actress in emblematic films from 1967 to the present but also for her multiple contributions over more than fifty years to film and national culture,” the ICAIC jury stated.
The ruling acknowledged the impact of her work on Cuban society and her role in preserving the legacy of director Tomas Gutierrez Alea, which makes her “one of the most outstanding and recognized figures not only in our country but also on the international stage.”
The 79-year-old artist made her film debut with a small role in The Last Supper, a movie directed by her husband, Gutierrez Alea. In 1983, she landed her first leading role in the film Up to a Certain Point, earning the Coral Award for Best Female Performance at the 5th International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana.
Her filmography includes around twenty films, with standout titles such as Swap (Se Permuta), Another Woman (Otra Mujer), Adorable Lies (Mentiras Adorables), Guantanamera, Seven Days in Havana, and Strawberry and Chocolate, a 1993 film that marked a turning point in her career with her portrayal of Nancy, a role that earned her several accolades.
The actress graduated from Cuba’s National School of Art and holds a degree in Latin American Literature from the University of Havana. Her professional beginnings were in theater in the late 1960s, as a member of renowned theater groups such as Bertolt Brecht, Arte Caribeño, and El Publico.
In her most recent film performance, Ibarra plays the role of a woman who dreams of becoming an actress on the big screen and falls victim to gender-based violence in the film “Anonymous Neurotic Woman,” for which she is also the screenwriter. The film is set to premiere this year.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
