Good year for Cuban Cinema: Six Cuban Film Premiers Scheduled for 2012

The first film by director Eduardo del Llano –Vinci– will be premiered on January 13. The movie by the screenwriter of La vida es silbar (Life is Wistling) tells the story of young Leonardo, the painter of La Gioconda, to make a reflection on arts and its inerasable trace on human beings. The director only uses four actors, a single location and paintings by Cuban artist Roberto Fabelo.

February will bring the movie Verde Verde to the island’s theaters, the most recent feature film by 2006 National Film Award laureate, Enrique Pineda Barnet.  The Director of La bella del Alhambra or The Beauty of Alambra uses works of art by Rocío García to sew the threads of a seduction game whose

Cuban Filmmaker Ian Padron Receives Glauber Rocha Award

Cuban filmmaker Ian Padron said it was an honor to receive the Glauber Rocha 2011 award, which carries the name, he said, of one of the filmmakers he admires the most.
PL Rocha was one of the most important Latin American filmmakers, and the father of the new Latin American cinema. The award also has a special meaning for me. I was born the same day of the creator of Entranced Earth and God and the Devil in the Land of the Sun, said Padron.

Alysa Nahmias feature documentary Unfinished Spaces premiering at LAFF

Alysa Nahmias co-directed and produced the documentary Unfinished Spaces, which will have its World Premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival in the Feature Documentary Competition. The Premiere screening is on June 19 at 4:20pm at the downtown LA Regal Cinemas, and additional screenings will be held the following weekend. View the trailer here.

Unfinished Spaces tells the story of three architects who, following their emotional exile from Cuba in 1965, return forty years later to finish what was considered the world’s most spectacular and futuristic art school, but was left to ruin by the country’s Revolution.

In Focus: Cinema Tropical Museum of Modern Art NY

The Museum of Modern Art, May 4-16, 2011

Featuring the One-Week Theatrical Release of HISTORIAS EXTRAORDINARIAS and a Special Ten-Year Anniversary Screening of 25 WATTS

The Museum of Modern Art is honoring the work of the New York-based non-profit media arts organization Cinema Tropical with a program of acclaimed Latin American films promoted by Cinema Tropical in the past decade. This film series celebrates not only the work of the organization, but also an extraordinary decade of Latin American film. The past ten years have witnessed an unexpected and astonishing film renaissance throughout Latin America. Largely influenced and inspired by the experience of the so-called New Argentine Cinema and propelled by creative hybrid models of production, a young and enthusiast generation of filmmakers are drastically changing how the region is seen and represented on the big screen.

HFFNY is showcasing films by indigenous filmmakers from 7th April NY

This year, HFFNY is showcasing a variety of films by indigenous filmmakers and about indigenous populations in Latin American countries, some of which have never been viewed in the U.S. before. These films provide a unique opportunity to explore other cultures and look at life from another perspective.
Newen Mapuche: La fuerza de la gente de la tierra
Newen Mapuche: The Force of the People from the Land
Dir. Elena Varela, Chile
The documentary recounts the story of the Mapuche people, an indigenous community from the south of Chile. The film tells the story of their struggle

Interview with Greg Klave director Second Annual Cuban Film Festival (CFF) Twin Cities, Minneapolis

While many filmgoers in the Twin Cities look forward to the annual Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival (MSPIFF), taking place in six weeks, there are a few other film festivals upcoming, including the Minneapolis Jewish Film Festival and the Italian Film Festival, which both start at the end of March. At the present time, the Second Annual Cuban Film Festival (CFF) is taking place at St. Anthony Main Theatre, for the next five Thursdays (the first screening was last Thursday).
Greg Klave, the festival curator, has brought six Cuban films to the Twin Cities. I wanted to ask Greg a few questions about the Cuban Film Festival, how to get involved, support from the Twin Cities, and why most Americans are not allowed to travel to Cuba.

This is the second year of the CFF. How was the turnout last year?
The first year we had a surprising response from the community, with two of the shows sold out and many turned away. Two of the others were close to sell-outs, and the others had a respectable turnout, with over half the theater seats filled. Our discussion groups after the films about the movie and the history of U.S./Cuban relations were also well-attended, and people enjoyed them immensely. We get so much propaganda from

Benicio Del Toro in Cuba to Direct Segment for ‘Seven Days in Havana’

The actor makes his helming debut with the collective film, whose other participating filmmakers include Julio Medem, Laurent Cantet, Pablo Trapero, Gaspar Noe, Elia Suleiman, and Juan Carlos Tabio.
Puerto Rican Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro arrived in Cuba earlier this week to direct a segment in the collective film Seven Days in Havana.
Del Toro’s first time as a director will be a documentary featuring an American actor traveling to the island for a seminar. The doc was first presented in December during the New Latin American Film Festival in Havana and will be supported by production companies Full House (France) and Morena Films (Spain). With a 3

The second annual Cuban Film Festival has arrived

The Minnesota Cuba Committee’s second annual Cuban Film Festival presents winners from the 2010 Latin American Film Festival in Havana. While the films are notably short on criticism of the Castro regime, they offer a rare glimpse at a nation that’s very near yet dauntingly distant. Screenings are Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. at the St. Anthony Main Theatre. All films are subtitled in English.
“Lisanka” (March 3) is a comic romantic triangle set during the Cuban missile crisis, with a new Russian arrival chasing the avidly sought-after Lisanka, the prettiest girl on the island.
California filmmaker Saul Landau‘s documentary “Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up” (March 10) uses interviews and archival footage to tell the story of the fruitless 40-year U.S. campaign to undermine Fidel Castro.
The tone shifts to fervid melodrama in “Fallen Gods” (March 17), a tragic romance set in the subculture of Havana pimps, prostitutes and transvestites. The film is a modern-day retelling of the legend of Alberto Yarini, the most famous Cuban pimp at the turn of the 20th century, who now is regarded as a symbol of national pride. With its overheated

Film of the week “Ticket to Paradise” by Gerardo Chijona

Director Gerardo Chijona Valdes guides the actors to realistic performances, though the Cuban drama’s last third begins to feel contrived.
Based on actual events following the dissolution of the USSR and ensuing economic chaos in Cuba, Gerardo Chijona Valdes’ feature Ticket to Paradise is anything but, depicting the often harrowing struggles of neglected teens trying to survive on the streets amidst of a faltering economy. A perceptive and sensitive portrayal of a runaway country girl’s coming of age, the film will find a home with

30 films Participate in FICCMEXICO Film Festival

A selection of 30 feature films and audiovisual works from short films, animation and documentaries made between 1961 and 2009, comprise the display of Cuba as the guest of honor at the International Film Festival in Mexico City (FICCMEXICO).

The meeting, planned by the Ministry of Culture of the Federal District, with support from the Ministry of Tourism, will be held from 4 to 13 February at different sites of Mexico City, among which the Zocalo.

The festival will consist of about 130 titles and sections such as the Mexican Film Festival, will present recent films of national cinematography, including some premieres in the capital. This edition will also feature two competitive sections: National and International and the back, to provide an opportunity to learn about the most important in the history of film making in the Caribbean country and its recent production.

Before 1959 there was in Cuba a film industry, but only isolated attempts, usually co-produced film with Mexico, Spain and Argentina, among other Latin American countries. With the triumph of the Cuban Revolution created the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), considered the real take-off of Cuban cinema with a distinct cultural identity. Since 1959 the Cuban cinema began to participate in festivals and film.

Thanks to director Santiago Alvarez, separated from the creator and director of new talent, the school was a real documentary. Around these years he founded the Cinematheque of Cuba, who was the first Latin American to store your most important titles of the film, and set the art cinema to serve the people.

More information: ithacafilmfest.com