9th Annual Havana Film Festival New York
Spring is “film festival season” in New York and today marks the opening of the Havana Film Festival New York (HFFNY). The film festival celebrates the best of Latin America cinema featuring films from Cuba, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America. The festival runs until Thursday, April 17th.
Tonight’s opening film, La Noche de los Inocentes (The Night of the Innocents) (Cuba/Spain/Italy), opens with a badly beaten man in the emergency room of La Habana hospital. Everyone assumes that he’s been assaulted for being a transvestite, but as the night continues, mysterious characters “come out of the woodwork.” The movie may sound suspiciously like a telenovela on Univision, but it won the prestigious El Mégano prize at the 2007 Havana Film Festival in Cuba.
Other films in the 2008 HFFNY include:
Quien Soy Yo? Los Niños Encontrados de Argentina (Who Am I? The Found Children of Argentina) (Cuba) This film introduces audiences to the children– now young adults– of the disappeared of Argentina’s Dirty War (1976-1983). The children were kidnapped from their families and given to those that supported Jorge Rafael Videla’s military regime. Of the over 500 stolen children, over 88 have been reunited with their real families. Director Estela Bravo will be present and there will be a special appearance by Estela Carlotto, President of the Plaza de Mayo Grandmothers.
New Children/New York Youth Program (New York) is a collection of shorts directed by young Latinos in New York City. They discover filmmaking as a tool to make sense of and communicate the experience of growing-up a Latino immigrant in the U.S.
Não Por Acaso (Not By Chance) (Brazil) follows two control-obsessed characters, Enio and Pedro. Both live in their own worlds in order to find fulfillment in life until the day that Enio’s ex-wife and Pedro’s wife die in an accident. Both men are in despair until Enio meets his long-lost daughter and Pedro meets Lucia, a young woman with whom he attempts to recreate the past. Faced the decision between their obsession with control and new opportunities, the men must choose a path and learn that nothing is by chance.
A number of screenings are free and will be open to the public. Check the HFFNY schedule for more information. The screenings will be at multiple venues in Manhattan, Bronx, and Queens. For a full schedule of film, venue and ticket information, visit the Havana Film Festival website.
I will be in attendance at this weekend’s screening of Fidel, a film which is part of the Estela Bravo Retrospective: Witness of Her Time program. Check back Monday, April 14th for my thoughts on the film.
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1 opinion for 9th Annual Havana Film Festival New York
HFFNY Update: Estela Bravo’s "Fidel"
Apr 14, 2008 at 1:29 pm
[…] propaganda machine was in full swing yesterday at the screening of Fidel at the Havana Film Festival New York. The film, which outlines the life and achievements of Cuba’s former President Fidel […]
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