The Havana Film Festival (Spanish: Festival de Cine de La Habana) is a Cuban festival that promotes Latin American filmmakers and films with Latin American themes. The festival is also known in English as International Festival of New Latin American Cinema of Havana, and in Spanish as Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana. It takes place every December in the city of Havana, Cuba.
History The inaugural International Festival of New Latin American Cinema was held on December 3, 1979. More than 600 film directors of Latin America responded to the first call made by the Cuban Institute of the Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC). Its founders included ICAIC president Alfredo Guevara, and the filmmakers Julio García Espinosa and Pastor Vega.
As expressed in its founding convocation, the festival aimed to "promote the regular meeting of Latin American filmmakers who with their work enrich the artistic culture of our countries (…); ensure the joint presentation of fiction films, documentaries, cartoons and current events (…), and contribute to the international diffusion and circulation of the main and most significant productions of our cinematographies".
The inaugural festival hosted over 600 filmmakers from across Latin America. Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez as president of the Fiction jury and Cuban filmmaker Santiago Álvarez as president of the jury for Documentaries and Animation. The Coral Grand Prize winners were Colonel Delmiro Gouveia (dir. Geraldo Sarno, Brazil) and Maluala (dir. Sergio Giral, Cuba) in Fiction, The Battle of Chile: the Struggle of a People Without Arms (dir. Patricio Gúzman, Chile) in Documentary, and Elpidio Valdés (dir. Juan Padrón, Cuba) in Animation.
In 2013, following the death of the then-President and co-founder Alfredo Guevara, the Havana Film Festival announced it was reappointing Iván Giroud as President. He had previously served in that position from 1994–2010.
Awards Within the following categories, approximately 40 awards are given: Awards section. Films Documentaries Animation First Work Direction Cinematography Other awards, including the FIPRESCI prize
Winners
Grand Coral Award for Best Film Year English title Original title Director(s) Country of origin 1979 (s)Colonel Delmira Gouveia Coronel Delmiro Gouveia Geraldo Sarno 1979 (s) 1980 Gaijin, a Brazilian Odyssey Gaijin - Os Caminhos da Liberdade Tizuka Yamasaki 1981 They Don't Wear Black Tie Eles Não Usam Black-Tie Leon Hirszman 1982 Time for Revenge Tiempo de Revancha Adolfo Aristarain 1983 Up to Certain Point Hasta cierto punto Tomás Gutiérrez Alea 1984 Memoirs of Prison Memórias do Cárcere Nelson Pereira dos Santos 1985 (s)Frida Frida, naturaleza viva Paul Leduc 1985 (s)Tangos, the Exile of Gardel El exilio de Gardel: Tangos Fernando Solanas 1986 Hour of the Star A Hora da Estrela Suzana Amaral 1987 A King and His Movie La película del rey Carlos Sorín 1988 The South Sur Fernando Solanas 1989 Last Images of the Shipwreck Últimas imágenes del naufragio Eliseo Subiela 1990 1991 Jericho Jericó Luis Alberto Lamata 1992 Forbidden Homework La tarea prohibida Jaime Humberto Hermosillo 1993 Strawberry and Chocolate Fresa y chocolate Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío 1994 The Beginning and the End Principio y fin Arturo Ripstein 1995 Midaq Alley El callejón de los milagros Jorge Fons 1996 Deep Crimson Profundo Carmesí Arturo Ripstein 1997 1998 Life is to Whistle La Vida es Silbar Fernando Pérez 1999 Olympic Garage Garage Olimpo Marco Bechis 2000 Me You Them Eu Tu Eles Andrucha Waddington 2001 The Swamp La Ciénaga Lucrecia Martel 2001 90 Miles 90 Millas Juan Carlos Zaldivar 2002 (s)City of God Cidade de Deus Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund 2002 (s)Suddenly Tan de repente Diego Lerman 2003 Havana Suite Suite Habana Fernando Pérez 2004 & 2005 Blessed by Fire Iluminados por el fuego Tristán Bauer 2006 Love for Sale O Céu de Suely Karim Aïnouz 2007 Silent Light Stellet Lijcht Carlos Reygadas 2008 2009 The Milk of Sorrow La Teta Asustada Claudia Llosa 2010 A Useful Life La vida útil Federico Veiroj 2011 Hell El Infierno Luis Estrada 2012 2013 2014 Behavior ConductaErnesto Daranas 2015 The Club El clubPablo Larraín 2016 2017 2018 Birds of Passage Pájaros de veranoCiro Guerra and Cristina Gallego 2019 The Sleepwalkers Los sonámbulosPaula Hernández 2021 Pacified PacificadoPaxton Winters 2022 The Great Movement El gran movimientoKiro Russo 2023 Tótem TótemLila Aviles 2024 La cocina La cocinaAlonso Ruizpalacios 2025 A Poet Un poeta Simon Mesa Soto
Awards by nation 12 11 9 7 3 2 1
References
See also Cartagena Film Festival Guadalajara International Film Festival Havana Film Festival New York Huelva Ibero American Film Festival Lima Film Festival Morelia International Film Festival Santiago International Film Festival Valdivia International Film Festival Viña del Mar International Film Festival
External links Official website Havana Film Festival at IMDb