2024-05-14 05:26:39
Photos: Cuba News 360
Text: Karla Castillo
The opening of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema was scheduled for eight o’clock at night on Thursday, December 3, at the capital’s Acapulco cinema, and so it happened.
The audience was greeted by the melodious voice of Zule Guerra, who was instrumentally accompanied by the Natural Trío ensemble, and thus, attendees learned about some of the songs that make up “El Viaje”, the singer’s most recent phonogram.
As it could not be otherwise, Iván Giroud, president of the festival, was in charge of the opening words, with which he expressed the feelings of the organizing committee of the event, regarding the death in 2020 of relevant figures within the world of Cuban culture, among them: Juan Padrón, Paco Prats and the actress Broselianda Hernández; He stated that this 42nd edition, which is just beginning, is dedicated to them.
Since it was confirmed that there would be a Havana Film Festival this year, controversy broke out regarding the relevance of holding, or not, the event in the context of the pandemic and adaptation to the “new normal” that is currently being experienced.
Giroud, with his intervention at the gala, seemed to respond to these debates: “In the midst of such adverse conditions, a force majeure forced us not to give up the attempt. Culture and cinema are in danger and this is not the time to postpone. The space that we give up will be occupied by vulgarity, mediocrity, intellectualism and barbarism. In times of pandemic, there is no other way to direct the development of the human spirit than to place culture, which includes science, at the center of this crossroads”.
Thus, adapted to the new times, this edition comes to us in two doses, the first is the one that brings us together now in December, with the screening of 92 films in categories out of competition, and the second, which will be in March, will be will be dedicated entirely to the competition for the Coral awards.
To start with the screenings, the inauguration also saw the premiere of the restored copy of The Last Supper, by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, by the Archive of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Los Angeles in coordination with the Cinematheque of Cuba and the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industries (ICAIC).
This is the fifth title by Gutiérrez Alea restored by the American Academy, preceded by the fiction feature films The Death of a Bureaucrat (1966), A Cuban Fight Against Demons (1971) and The Survivors (1979), as well as the documentary short film The art of tobacco (1974).
So, officially the five Havana cinemas that participate in the festival are already welcoming the public. Tickets in hand, there are several people who, apart from coronavirus, are going to enjoy the big screen. It remains to be hoped that the protection measures are actually complied with in each location, and that the films selected for screening are worth the risk.