Iván Giroud: Every year the Festival is a new experience

“Cinema is the great passion of my life”, affirmed Iván Giroud, president of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema that will be held in Havana from December 5-15.

Regarding to details of the 41st edition of the seventh art event, the official told Cuban National Television Newsreel that this time they reduced the number of films due to be screened at the so-called “Proyecto 23”, Acapulco movie theater and halls of Multicine Infanta.

He specified that compared with previous editions the number of films was reduced to 300 with a view to make a more adequate schedule for the exhibition circuit and running days of the event, which makes it possible to screen the most acclaimed films a larger number of times.

He commented that every year the festival is a new experience, in which passion and emotion prevail while looking for the films to be offered to the spectator. I will always have that passion for cinema, Giroud reiterated.

A total of 112 films will compete this time in such sections as fiction feature films (21), fiction short and medium films (19), feature debuts (18), documentary feature films (21), short and medium documentary films (10) and animation films (23). Likewise, 25 unpublished scripts and 30 posters will compete for the Corals.

In addition, there will be 660 screenings from 37 countries, led by Argentina and Brazil and 300 films in and out of competition.

This time the Festival is dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC) and outstanding documentary maker Santiago Álvarez on the centenary of his birth.

At a press conference held last November, Giroud said that it was necessary to reshape the programming a bit as regards the number of works. “We were more rigorous to bring the best and most updated films produced in Latin America in the last two years. Nevertheless, we also kept space for films that are worth recalling”, he stated.

It should be noted that the Festival is a Latin American event, therefore, the most representative filmography was chosen from that prospect and taking into account the production of each nation, including ours”, he added.

At the 41st edition, two Honorary Coral Awards will be awarded, one to Cuban filmmaker Manuel Pérez Paredes, and another to Argentine film producer Lita Stantic.

Next December 5, at 6:00 pm, Havana’s Karl Marx theater will host the inauguration of the motion picture event, which announces a performance of the National Ballet of Cuba (BNC) to pay tribute to recently deceased prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso, as well as the screening of Argentine film “La odisea de los Giles” (Heroic Losers), directed by Sebastián Borensztein and starred in by famous actor Ricardo Darín.

Translated by Jorge Mesa Benjamin / CubaSi Translation Staff