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26th International Festival of New Latin American Cinema: 

An initial look outside the cinemas

Mireya Castañeda

Better December, says a Cuban composer. This is true for Havana for it is no less than the 26th consecutive festival of New Latin American Cinema. A gathering that returns victorious from December 7 through 27.

No doubt a moment of confrontation on the screens among the region’s creators, who also face "pell-mell attention" of the capital public, as Alfredo Guevara called it. For Eliseo Subiela it was, he confessed, the final test.

For now it is only figures that indicate the beginning of an obsession that is impossible to satisfy. The individual selection is guided by names of directors, actors, specific cinematography, prizes in other festivals, by advance criticisms.

Naturally certain films in the competition will have an audience preference. For this festival, there is a total of 21 full-length features with Argentina reigning as number one (8), followed (at a distance) by Brazil, Colombia, Chile and the United States (each with 2) and Bolivia, Cuba, Peru, Paraguay and Venezuela (1).

Nor is it strange that Argentine cinematography should arrive with such a force. It is one of the major winners in Havana, according to juries, critics and the public. This year it would appear difficult to equal with feature titles (Bombón-El perro [Bombón the Dog], by Carlos Sorin; Luna de Avellaneda [Shrunken Moon], by Juan José Campanella, or Roma by Adolfo Aristarain and others that have already have an excellent track record (El abrazo partido [The Broken Embrace], by Daniel Burman; El cielito [Little Sky], by Maria Victoria Menis; La niña santa [Child Saint], by Lucrecia Martel and Los muertos [The Dead], by Lisandro Alonso.

However, they are competing with other films that also have also been very well received, for example, Perder es cuestión de método [Losing is a Question of Method], by the eminent Colombian director Sergio Cabrera ; the two Chilean contributions: Cachimba, by the prize-winning Silvio Caiozzi, and Machuca, by Andrés Wood; the excellent Diarios de motocicleta (Motorcycle Diaries, entered by the United States but directed by Brazilian Walter Salles) and Whisky, by the two Uruguayan Pablos, Rebella and Stoll.

In addition 20 first works are competing and again the majority are from Argentina with five, followed by Brazil and Mexico (finally appearing) with four, two from Peru and 1one each from Costa Rica, Cuba and Chile.

An note aside for the Cuban film in this category, Tres veces dos (Three Times Two), by Pavel Giroud, Lester Hamlet and Esteban Garcia Insausti, which has been very well received already and has won prizes in other festivals. The other Cuban film competing is Perfecto amor equivocado (Perfect Mistaken Love), by Gerardo Chijona.

As is customary, the competition includes medium and short features (26); documentaries (28); animations (27), film posters (39) and unpublished scripts (102).

In parallel with the competition, there are various special screenings, headed by what could be called the Latin American panorama (21), the informative documentary section (76) or Made in Cuba (48 films from Germany, Canada, Cuba, Denmark, Spain, France, the United States and Switzerland.)

The much sought-after screenings are the usual ones: German cinema (10), Danish (seven, among them one by Lars Von Trier), Spanish (13, with an impressive list of directors... Gómez Pereira, Saura, Almodóvar, Gutiérrez Aragón, Amenábar, Bollain), French (seven, by Jaoui, Barratier, Techiné, Rohmer), U.S. independents (10, including Jonathan Demme), Swiss (six, among them Notre musique, by Jean-Luc Godard) and Latin Americans in the USA (five).

The Havana Film Festival will pay tribute to the centenaries of Pablo Neruda, Alejo Carpentier and Maria Zambrano with the projection of films and documentaries based on these great literary and philosophical figures, while there are retrospectives dedicated to Mexican Felipe Cazals, with nine of his films, and French director Francois Truffaut with seven (complemented by a lecture on the director by Serge Toubiana, the director of French cinema).

In addition to the international contemporary panorama, justly sought after (18 films), there will be special screenings to attend, among them Dr. Mabuse (Fritz Lang, 1921), three chapters of Yo Fidel Castro, revolucionario cubano (I Fidel Castro, Revolutionary Cuban), by Axel Ramonet, and De viaje con Che Guevara, (Travels with Che Guevara) by Gianni Miná.

As customary, the seminars are continuing: The audiovisual universe of Latin American children, and Latin America/ Latinos in the USA: language, cinema and culture. In regards to the latter, the Festival’s president Alfredo Guevara warned: "We still don’t know if they (the directors and U.S. academics) will be here or not."

A succulent cinematographic banquet served up for the 26th Festival of New Latin American Cinema.

www.granma.cu       2004,  8th December 

Latinoamerica-online 

Ass. Cult. Imago Mundi - Direttore  responsabile Mariella Moresco Fornasier