Nothing will prevent the Havana Film Festival, said Alexis Triana

Havana, Dec 15 (Prensa Latina) The president of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), Alexis Triana, declared exclusively to Prensa Latina that absolutely nothing will prevent the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana from being held.

December 15, 2024
10:25

In a summary of the event that took place in Cuba from December 5 and concludes today, Triana said that, despite the difficulties that the country is going through, in any other nation the decision would have been made to suspend the event, “but we have defended the Festival,” he stressed.

We have defended it in the belief that it will not be able to prevent our friends from being called to the Cuban capital, and from seeing the latest cinematographic productions of the continent. Also in the belief that, above all things, this fabulous exchange that has taken place in Havana for 45 years will continue to take place, he pointed out.

I think our opponents bet that we would not hold the Festival, and for us it is a source of pride to be reaching the conclusion of this edition, stressed the president of the ICAIC.

This with a fulfilled program, a forum for debates with great participation and crowded cinemas, marking a trend and reaffirming the idea that it is possible to maintain the essence and genesis of this project, said the director.

They have given us words of death, that Latin American cinema no longer exists, but these have been days to recognize how many filmmakers from the continent continue to bet on this Festival and come here to share with the public, said Triana.

And he added: we have seen happy faces in those filmmakers, and their urgencies and needs.

Havana continues to be that place where the most diverse and plural has a place.

I can assure you, said Triana, that the expressed will that the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, asserted in the exchange with the filmmakers that we will never stop holding the Festival of New Latin American Cinema is an expression reflected in facts.

For example, the existence of the San Antonio de los Baños International Film School for more than 35 years, which never closed its doors, not even during the years of the Covid-19 pandemic, and not even during the worst economic times we have experienced in Cuba. Because culture continues to be the first thing that must be saved, said the president of the ICAIC.

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