EXCLUSIVE: Cuban American actress Ana Villafañe has landed the lead role in the indie feature Alina of Cuba: La Hija Rebelde from Mankind Entertainment and Maven Pictures.
She will portray Fidel Castro’s daughter and anti-communism activist, Alina Fernandez.Alina of Cuba is based on the true-life story of Fernandez, a Cuban American immigrant and human rights advocate whose birth was the result of a passionate love affair between Castro and Natalia “Naty” Revuelta.
Revuelta, a Cuban-born socialite, sacrificed her and her physician husband’s personal belongings and finances to help fund the revolution.Fernandez learned of her connection to Castro at the age of 10: when after years of secret visits to her home, she was finally told by her mother that “El Comandante” was her biological father.
Fernandez and her mother stayed in Cuba after the former’s stepfather and her sister fled to the U.S. after his medical clinic was shut down.Fernandez eventually became one of Castro’s most outspoken critics; she was arrested on more than one occasion for trying to leave and classified as a dissident forbidden to travel outside of Cuba.
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