By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA, Mar 17 2003 (IPS)

A decade after his celebrated interpretation of a gay man in the internationally acclaimed film ‘Strawberry and Chocolate’, Cuban actor Jorge Perugorría says he is waiting for another role of that stature.

Not that he has put his artistic career on hold. Over the past 10 years, he has shot more than 20 films. And in between screenplays, he paints.

Perugorría became the most internationally esteemed and sought-after actor living in Cuba since he was catapulted to fame by his brilliant performance as Diego in the film by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío, which made its debut in 1993.

But movie critics say Perugorría, 37, has not been able to repeat the success of that performance.

”Perhaps I partly agree with that assessment, but the problem is that I have not played another character written in such a masterly way,” Perugorría said in a recent radio interview in Cuba.

‘Strawberry and Chocolate’, based on a story by Cuban writer Senel Paz, who also wrote the screenplay for the film, is the story of Diego, a flamboyant, cultured gay man, and David, a young homophobic communist militant who gradually overcomes his prejudice as a close friendship grows between them.

‘Strawberry and Chocolate’, which has won more international praise and prizes than any other Cuban film, raised awareness about homosexuality in this socialist Caribbean island nation, where gays had up to then appeared only in stereotyped roles and as the butt of jokes.

Analysts say the film marked a ”before and after” in the debate on homosexuality in Cuban society, because until its appearance, gay characters were only presented in works of comedy, caricatured to make people laugh.

In the past decade, Perugorría has played a diversity of roles in more than 20 films – ”although the results and the reception by the critics have not been the same” as with ‘Strawberry and Chocolate’, he commented.

But ”you make every film with the same passion, dedication and enthusiasm, you give the best of yourself,” said the actor, who said he is happy with the opportunities he has been presented with in Latin American and European film.

However, he said he continues to prefer making films in Cuba ”because our national cinematography represents me”.

Perugorría said his response to any temptation held out by Hollywood is demonstrated by the direction his career has taken, which clearly reflects that he is not considering leaving Cuba. ”That is a price I am not willing to pay,” he said.

The outlook for Cuba will change, he predicted, once Washington lifts its four-decade economic embargo.

There are many actors, directors and great artists in the United States with whom he maintains a professional relationship of respect and admiration, said Perugorría.

”We dream that one day, when U.S. policy towards Cuba changes, we will be able to do things together, but for now that is impossible,” he added.

Perugorría began to paint as a hobby, between films, and his art has now become ”another way of expressing myself artistically, of expressing the aspirations I have as a human being,” he said.

That facet of his personality was revealed in an exhibit in December in which he showed more than 20 of his paintings under the title ‘A Cuban Struggle Against the Demons’, the title of another film by Gutiérrez Alea.

Critics have pointed to traces of graffiti or kitsch in his work, seeking the influence of schools or styles, but Perugorría prefers not to identify himself with any.

”I am discovering paths, I still enjoy that game, everything I do is very expressionist because they are sensations, ideas, concepts that I develop,” he stated.

For the actor, painting is a passion that he has felt ”since boyhood,” but one that he is only now seriously delving into. ”Through art, you make statements and commitments that then accompany you for the rest of your life,” he added.

Nevertheless there are elements that ”gradually define” his work with the artist’s brush, symbols that crop up again and again.

Perugorría will soon take his exhibit to Spain, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica, ”especially the canvases, because here in Havana I included sketches that are a kind of catharsis while I’m working on a film, to establish a relationship between painting and filmmaking,” he said.

”I’ve only been painting seriously for two years, and I am very happy” with how things have gone, he concluded.

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