They announce that Mijaín López Núñez has made his entrance in the room of the Yara. The lights focus it. He, who always looks immense, seems more so in the midst of the gloom of a cinema full of people. Everyone looks at him, stands, applauds...
And it was not the first time that the loud applause was heard there, on Saturday night, during the special presentation of the documentary feature film Mijaín. Few works receive such genuine enthusiasm, even before their screening, as that of Rolando Almirante, Héctor Villar and Ángel Alderete.
For an hour and 20 minutes, the film - produced by the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC, for its Spanish equivalent) and the independent audiovisual creation collective D'Alma Films - develops two strongly intertwined lines: the final preparation for the Olympic Games París-2024 and the competition itself, in a crescendo that makes the spectators rise again from their seats, with the same emotion of those days; and, at the same time, the reconstruction, through the testimonies of the athlete himself and his relatives, of the countless sacrifices on which he rose to sporting glory.
Those attending the Yara, among whom were Deputy Prime Minister Inés María Chapman Waugh, and Minister of Culture Alpidio Alonso, were able to verify the humility of the family of the Hero of the Republic of Cuba, of whose naturalness and genuine Cuban identity is an example of his mother Leonor Núñez; the simplicity of its first mattress, the stumbles before the first medal; the influence of coaches Pedro Val, now deceased, and Raúl Trujillo; as well as all the exhausting physical and psychological dedication behind the feat in Paris.
As Almirante said before the projection, what they intended was "to understand the twists and turns of a man's soul," which is hidden behind a smile or a serious face.
According to Osvaldo Vento Montiller, President of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation, Mijain also fulfills a dream of Fidel to see the stories of the great athletes of the Island on the big screen; a project that, it was learned, will continue in the future with other figures.
This presentation of the feature film, which is counted among the highlights of the 9th. Summer Film Festival, precedes others that are expected in the country, such as in the Prague cinema, in Pinar del Río, for example - explained Alexis Triana, President of ICAIC-, and those that are expected with great interest in Russia, Belarus and France.
On the occasion, the only five-time Olympic champion in the same individual event advised all young athletes, and especially those who are preparing to participate shortly in the Junior Pan American Games of Asunción, present in the cinema, "to maintain, above all, a strong mind."
Just seconds before the lights went out to watch the documentary, and after Mijaín thanked the production team for a work done with humility, an anonymous voice said from the audience: "Champion, thank you for existing."
Again, the applause.
