Latin America Film Festival to Start a Week Later

Havana’s Latin America New Cinema Festival will roll up its curtains on December 7, a week later than the traditional December 1 grand opening, due to serious damages caused by the two hurricanes that hit Cuba in August and September, Festival Chairman Alfredo Guevara said.

“The main reason for delaying the grand opening of the film festival is the severe damages in some of the country’s movie theaters,” Mr. Guevara pointed out while explaining to the press why the kickoff presentation has been moved to December 7.

Likewise, the two devastating hurricanes partially shut down communications for a long period of time and brought along organizational problems for the festival’s planners.

“However, most top filmmakers from virtually all countries in the Western Hemisphere will be in Havana for the big-screen party, rubbing elbows with moviemakers and producers from the European Union, the United States and Canada,” an enthusiastic Mr. Guevara butted in.

This year’s festival will show feature presentations from France, Denmark, Germany and Spain. In the same breath, attendants will pay tribute to Francois Truffaut, Mexican moviemaker Felipe Casals, Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier.

At the opening ceremony of what many experts consider one of the biggest cultural events of the entire region, Cuba’s National Symphonic Orchestra and the National Choir will play “Canto General de America”, a song inspired in Pablo Neruda’s same-name poem and written by Greek musician Mikis Theodorakis.