General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

Fresa y Chocolate

Fresa y Chocolate (Strawberry and Chocolate) is a 1993 Cuban-Mexican-Spanish feature film directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío, with a screenplay by Senel Paz adapted from his own short story "El lobo, el bosque y el hombre nuevo" (The Wolf, the Forest and the New Man). It follows the unlikely friendship between David, a young heterosexual communist student, and Diego, a cultivated openly gay artist, in Havana, and it critiques intolerance and ideological rigidity in Cuban society.¹^•² The film won the Grand Coral first prize at the Havana festival in 1993, the Silver Bear Special Jury Prize and the Teddy Award at Berlin in 1994, the Spanish Goya for best Spanish-language foreign film in 1995, and it was the first Cuban film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.³^•⁴

Key fact	Detail
Production	1993 feature film, coproduction of Cuba, Mexico, and Spain; 110 minutes¹
Directors and writer	Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío; screenplay Senel Paz, from his story "El lobo, el bosque y el hombre nuevo"¹^•⁵
Principal cast	Jorge Perugorría (Diego), Vladimir Cruz (David), Mirta Ibarra (Nancy), Francisco Gattorno (Miguel), Marilyn Solaya (Vivian), Joel Angelino (Germán)⁶
Setting	Havana, 1979, in the years of revolutionary orthodoxy that the film examines⁴
Major awards	Grand Coral, Havana 1993; Silver Bear Special Jury Prize and Teddy Award, Berlin 1994; Goya 1995; Oscar nomination 1995³
Spanish release	27 April 1994, distributed by Alta Films; 724,436 admissions and 2,213,643.48 euros gross in Spain⁷
Music and photography	José María Vitier (music), Mario García Joya (cinematography)¹

Spoilers

Plot and characters

The story is set in Havana in 1993's depiction of the late 1970s. David, played by Vladimir Cruz, is a convinced young communist studying at the University of Havana; Diego, played by Jorge Perugorría, is a cultured homosexual who loves his country and its traditions but lives marginalized by the homophobia of the period.⁴^•⁵ The two meet over ice cream, the title's strawberry and chocolate marking their opposed temperaments, and Diego invites David to his apartment.⁹

David's friend Miguel, a stalwart member of the Young Communist Youth Movement, urges him to report Diego, whose contacts with a foreign embassy could be read as counterrevolutionary activity.⁹^•⁸ Diego's authenticity gradually dismantles the young militant's prejudices. Nancy, played by Mirta Ibarra, lives in Diego's building; after she slashes her wrists, Diego takes her to hospital and David donates blood for her operation, and David later sleeps with her.⁹ Diego's letter protesting the banning of Germán's art exhibition for its anti-revolutionary content costs him his job, and he concludes that he must leave Cuba.⁹^•⁸ In the final scene David, who has avoided embracing his friend throughout the film, embraces him.⁸

Origin and screenplay

The film is based on the short story "El lobo, el bosque y el hombre nuevo" by the Cuban writer Senel Paz, who also wrote the screenplay. The story won the Juan Rulfo International Short Story Prize in 1990 and Cuba's Literary Criticism Prize in 1992, and it has been described as one of the great Latin American texts of its kind.² Paz said the film goes beyond the subject of homosexuality and addresses friendship between human beings.⁸ In 2020 Paz received Cuba's National Film Prize, awarded by the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), shared that year with the animation producer Francisco Prats.²

Themes and context

The film's central subject is the possibility of friendship across ideological and sexual divides in a society that for years marginalized homosexuals. It references the Unidades Militares de Apoyo a la Producción (UMAP), the work camps to which Cuban homosexuals were sent, and it questions censorship and the limits of the revolution's tolerance.⁸^•⁴ The Museum of the Moving Image notes that the film's release helped open discussion about LGBT rights in Cuba and beyond.¹⁰

The ice cream parlor that gives the film its title is a real Havana landmark, Coppelia, which was also a gay meeting place, and the film is credited with celebrating it at a moment when the country was loosening somewhat.¹¹ Tomás Gutiérrez Alea was already ill when he made the film, and it became one of the most popular and surprising Cuban films of its period.¹²

Reception and awards

At the XV Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano in Havana in December 1993, the film took the first Coral Prize for best film, Coral prizes for best direction, best actor (Jorge Perugorría), and best supporting actress (Mirtha Ibarra), the audience prize, the FIPRESCI international critics' prize, the OCIC prize, and the prize of the Arci Nova film circles union.¹ El País reported that Cuban audiences received key scenes, including David's embrace of Diego, with strong ovations.⁸

At the Berlin International Film Festival in 1994 the film won the Silver Bear Special Jury Prize and the Teddy Award for best feature film.³ In 1995 it won the Goya for best Spanish-language foreign film and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the first Cuban film so nominated; the Oscar went to Burnt by the Sun.⁴^•¹³ Other honors include the Premio ACE awards from the New York Association of Entertainment Critics for best film, director, actor, and supporting actor, a Silver Condor from the Argentinean Film Critics Association, and a National Board of Review listing among the top five foreign language films of 1994.³^•¹

In Spain the film was released on 27 April 1994, certified as not recommended for audiences under 13, and sold 724,436 tickets for a gross of 2,213,643.48 euros.⁷ Thirty years after its release, El País observed that many of the film's original Cuban spectators had by then joined the largest exodus in the country's history, with nearly half a million emigrants in two years.¹⁴

Production details

The film was shot in 35 millimeter color, with cinematography by Mario García Joya, music by José María Vitier, sound by Germinal Hernández, and editing by Miriam Talavera and Osvaldo Donatién.¹ The score incorporates Cuban music, including pieces by Ernesto Lecuona performed by Frank Fernández, Pablo Milanés's "Ya ves", and Benny Moré's "Tu me sabes comprender".¹⁵ Production companies included ICAIC, the Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía, and Tabasco Films.⁴ The story was also adapted for the stage: because of the popularity of the film, producers changed the title of the play "Para comerte mejor" to "Fresa y chocolate" during its international tour.¹⁶

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026