Mankind Entertainment announced that British director Michael Radford is no longer attached to direct the upcoming award-driven historical drama. The split was amicable between producers and director and was based on script differences.
The screenplay, penned by Bobby Moresco, who won an Oscar, a BAFTA and numerous other awards with Paul Haggis for co-writing Crash in 2005 and Cuban playwright Nilo Cruz (Anna in the Tropics), is based on the true coming-of-age story of Fidel Castro's exiled daughter, Alina Fernandez, who was born from a 1950s extra-marital love affair Castro had with Cuban socialite, Natalia "Naty" Revuelta, prior to taking power.
Fernandez's relationship with Castro was kept secret until she was ten years old when she found out that the man who would regularly bring her gifts during the odd hours of the night and whom she saw on the television screen giving speeches to the masses for hours on end, was her father.
Fernandez escaped Cuba in 1993, after becoming a dissident torn by the desire for a better life, and by the political climate in Cuba at the time. Fernandez¹s mother is said to have been a driving force that helped put Castro in power for nearly half a century; having sold her jewelry and emptied her bank account to help fund his army during his first failed attempt at taking power.
Told from the perspective of the daughter who overcomes the everlasting effects of her birth as she comes to grips with the issue of her father through her own self-liberation, the film will
detail parts of Fernandez's childhood and her escape, which weren't detailed in her book and which have yet to be told on film.
The project is being produced and co-financed by Mankind Entertainment's John Torres Martinez and Joe Lamy, who acquired the rights and have developed the project. The script was recently revised based on notes from the major studio system and has earned the attention of several major studio distributors. "We've taken the pains to knock on doors ourselves and have taken a series of meetings with acquisitions executives at studios like Fox, Universal, The Weinstein Co and Sony over the last two years."
About Mankind Entertainment:
Mankind Entertainment is an entity formed for the development, packaging and production of feature films. The company was formed by Austin-based producers John Torres Martinez, and Joe Lamy, and focuses primarily on the financing, development and production of award-driven, specialty films.
Mankind is working on the upcoming adaptation of Anna in the Tropics which is written by Nilo Cruz, with Academy award nominee, Lee Daniels having developed it.
Contact:
John Martinez
Producer and Public Relations
Mankind Entertainment LLC
512-709-2271
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