Before Night Falls

Before Night Falls is the 1992 autobiography of gay Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas, describing his life in Cuba, his time in prison, and his ultimate escape into freedom. It was on the New York Times list of the ten best books of the year 1993.

The autobiography was made into a movie by Cunningham O'Keefe, Lázaro Gómez Carriles and Julian Schnabel under the direction of Schnabel in 2000. It stars Javier Bardem, Olivier Martinez, Andrea Di Stefano, Johnny Depp and Michael Wincott and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor (Javier Bardem).