The Cuban-Mexican coproduction Calle 232, directed by Rudy Mora, won the Diamond Butterfly Award from the Euro-Asian Academy of Cinematic Arts in the category of Best Non-Euro-Asian International Film, as reported by the state agency Prensa Latina.
The ceremony took place on Thursday in Moscow, at the Taller 12 theater of Nikita Mikhalkov, and the award was received by Yanin Martínez, Vice President of the Cuban Institute of Art and Cinematographic Industry (ICAIC), who thanked the organizers on behalf of the filmmakers.
The 2025 feature film, produced by ICAIC in collaboration with the Mexican company DMM Films, under the production of Adriana Moya, tells the story of Atila Romero, a renowned film director who, after suffering an illness that limits his intellectual and physical abilities, finds himself in a state of dependency due to the distancing from family and friends, reported the also state-run Cuban News Agency.
Abel, a young man who rents out a space in his home, decides to accompany him and take on his care, even though it means postponing his own projects.
The script, written by Rudy Mora himself, has a strong autobiographical component. The director revealed that for a decade he cared for his mother along with his sister, an experience that inspired the film. However, he clarified that it does not literally reproduce that story but rather transforms his experiences and emotions into characters, situations, and fictional conflicts.
Mora has characterized Calle 232 as a testimonial film focused on caregivers, aiming to draw attention to a social issue that, in her view, still does not receive adequate recognition or in-depth and sustained treatment.
The cast includes Jorge Alí, Isabel Santos, Luis Ángel Batista, Chavely Díaz, Laura Moras, and Reytel Oro, among other performers.
According to critics, the film "focuses on who takes care of people when they can no longer fend for themselves and portrays the network of affections (or the lack thereof) in a context of population aging, which affects many countries, including Cuba," noted Prensa Latina.
This context is particularly pronounced on the island: by the end of 2025, 26.7% of its population was 60 years old or older, a proportion that represents an increase of one percentage point compared to 2024, when the figure was 25.7%.
Cuba has only 156 nursing homes with 12,697 beds for more than 1.7 million retirees, and 51 municipalities lack nursing homes.
Calle 232 premiered in Cuban theaters in September 2026 and had already garnered prior recognition: a collateral award from the Quisicuaba Association during the 46th International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana, held in December 2025, for its sensitive portrayal of the experience of those who care for the elderly.
The Diamond Butterfly Award, driven by Russian filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov, celebrated its second edition this year with more than 40 films from 19 countries across Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia, awarding prizes in 12 categories. In its first edition, held in 2025, 34 films from 17 countries participated.
The award obtained by Calle 232 comes at a time of deep crisis for cinema in Cuba, where nearly 80% of the approximately 398 cinemas that existed in the country have closed in recent decades, and international co-productions have become one of the few avenues for Cuban talent to circulate and be recognized abroad.
Another recent example is Baracoa, by Luis Ernesto Doñas, which won two awards at the Ibero-Latin American Film Festival in Trieste in early November.
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