Film | Before Night Falls

Directed by Julian Schnabel* and starring Javier Bardem, who received an Academy Award nomination for his performance, Before Night Falls is based on the autobiography of writer and poet Reinaldo Arenas who was born in the Cuban countryside and who initially supported the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power in 1959. The Cuban government persecuted and imprisoned him for his openly gay lifestyle and he was released as part of the 1980 Mariel Boat lift to the United States where he subsequently died of AIDS. Rated R, 133 minutes (*Julian Schnabel’s paintings will be on view at NSU Museum of Art October 12 – February 7 in the exhibition, Café Dolly: Picabia, Schnabel, Willumsen.)