The main movie theaters in Havana will host the New Latin American Cinema Festivalwhich will take place amid doubts due to the frequent blackouts, which already hampered the last edition, and the dengue and chikungunya epidemic.
The massive blackout that this Wednesday left western Cuba in the dark, including Havana, venue of the event, it revived the memory of the problems recorded the previous year.
Besides, the island suffers an epidemic of dengue and chikungunya with about 40 thousand cases registered this year, an unfavorable forecast for the coming weeks and at least 33 deaths confirmed by these viruses.
Despite the difficult panorama, the contest, which is held until December 14 under the motto “Rodando Cine”, maintains its poster, with a selection of 222 works on display from 42 countries, among which, in addition to Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Colombia, stand out.
The festival organizers announced EFE that the Argentine film Belén, directed and starring Dolores Fonzi, will open the festival this year. The film is about the court case of a young woman criminalized after a spontaneous abortion.
Mexico will be the guest of honor this year and the famous Churubusco Studios will receive the Choral of Honor award of the contest for its eightieth anniversary.
Likewise, the event will dedicate its theoretical forum to the centenary of the birth of Cuban filmmaker Alfredo Guevara (1925-2013), who was founding president of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (Icaic) and also of the festival.
There is also a section dedicated to cinema from the countries of the BRICS bloc (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), an alliance to which Cuba recently joined, according to the program broadcast on social networks.
The Coral awards ceremony is scheduled for Friday, December 12.
Film proposals
Among the cinematographic proposals that can attract the attention of the public is the film The secret agentdirected by Brazilian Kleber Mendonça Filho and starring his countryman Wagner Moura.
The film in question was selected to represent Brazil as Best International Film at the 2026 Oscars.
In addition to a large selection of productions, Brazil will be represented in Havana by actor Thiago Lacerda, known for his work in soap operas and miniseries such as Terra Nostra, Siete Mujeres and Páginas de la vida, but also for films such as time and wind.
Other notable titles from the Havana event are Anonymous neurotic (Cuba) and the documentary Lorca in Havanawhich addresses an unknown period of the Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca, during his stay in Cuba in 1930.
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In this edition, the Latin American Film Market Fair will also be resumed, with the attendance of producers from countries such as Russia, China and Indonesia, along with Latin American and island participants.
The Havana New Latin American Cinema Festival opened its doors for the first time on December 3, 1979, conceived as a continuation of the festivals in Viña del Mar (1967 and 1969), Mérida (1968 and 1977) and Caracas (1974).
Since then, the contest has brought together prestigious Cuban filmmakers and from other parts of the world around Latin American filmography and for years it has been considered one of the sector’s benchmarks in Latin America.
