# Havana Film Festival

The Havana Film Festival is a Cuban festival that focuses on the promotion of Latin American filmmakers. It is also known in Spanish as Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana, and in English as International Festival of New Latin American Cinema of Havana. It takes place every year during December in the city of Havana, Cuba.

## History

The inaugural International Festival of New Latin American Cinema was held on December 3, 1979, and more than 600 film directors of Latin America responded to the first call made by the Cuban Institute of the Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC). Its founders included ICAIC president Alfredo Guevara, and the filmmakers Julio García Espinosa and Pastor Vega.
As expressed in its founding convocation, the festival aimed to "promote the regular meeting of Latin American filmmakers who with their work enrich the artistic culture of our countries (…); ensure the joint presentation of fiction films, documentaries, cartoons and current events (…), and contribute to the international diffusion and circulation of the main and most significant productions of our cinematographies".
The inaugural festival hosted over 600 filmmakers from across Latin America. Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez as president of the Fiction jury and Cuban filmmaker Santiago Álvarez as president of the jury for Documentaries and Animation. The Coral Grand Prize winners were Colonel Delmiro Gouveia (dir. Geraldo Sarno, Brazil) and Maluala (dir. Sergio Giral, Cuba) in Fiction, The Battle of Chile: the Struggle of a People Without Arms (dir. Patricio Gúzman, Chile) in Documentary, and Elpidio Valdés (dir. Juan Padrón, Cuba) in Animation.
In 2013, following the death of current President and co-founder Alfredo Guevara the Havana Film Festival announced that it was reappointing Iván Giroud as its President. Giroud had previously served as President from 1994-2010.

## Awards

Within the following categories, approximately 40 awards are given:
* Films
* Documentaries
* Animation
* First Work
* Direction
* Cinematography
* Other Awards, including a FIPRESCI prize

## Grand Coral - First Prize winners (Fiction)

| Year | English title | Original title | Director(s) | Country of origin |
| 1979 (s) | Colonel Delmira Gouveia | Coronel Delmiro Gouveia | Geraldo Sarno | Brazil |
| 1979 (s) | Maluala | Maluala | Sergio Giral | Cuba |
| 1980 | Gaijin, a Brazilian Odyssey | Gaijin - Os Caminhos da Liberdade | Tizuka Yamasaki | Brazil |
| 1981 | They Don't Wear Black Tie | Eles Não Usam Black-Tie | Leon Hirszman | Brazil |
| 1982 | Time for Revenge | Tiempo de Revancha | Adolfo Aristarain | Argentina |
| 1983 | Up to Certain Point | Hasta cierto punto | Tomás Gutiérrez Alea | Cuba |
| 1984 | Memoirs of Prison | Memórias do Cárcere | Nelson Pereira dos Santos | Brazil |
| 1985 (s) | Frida | Frida, naturaleza viva | Paul Leduc | Mexico |
| 1985 (s) | Tangos, the Exile of Gardel | El exilio de Gardel: Tangos | Fernando Solanas | Argentina |
| 1986 | Hour of the Star | A Hora da Estrela | Suzana Amaral | Brazil |
| 1987 | A King and His Movie | La película del rey | Carlos Sorín | Argentina |
| 1988 | The South | Sur | Fernando Solanas | Argentina |
| 1989 | Last Images of the Shipwreck | Últimas imágenes del naufragio | Eliseo Subiela | Argentina |
| 1990 | Hello Hemingway | Hello Hemingway | Fernando Pérez | Cuba |
| 1991 | Jericho | Jericó | Luis Alberto Lamata | Venezuela |
| 1992 | Forbidden Homework | La tarea prohibida | Jaime Humberto Hermosillo | Mexico |
| 1993 | Strawberry and Chocolate | Fresa y chocolate | Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío | Cuba |
| 1994 | The Beginning and the End | Principio y fin | Arturo Ripstein | Mexico |
| 1995 | Midaq Alley | El callejón de los milagros | Jorge Fons | Mexico |
| 1996 | Deep Crimson | Profundo Carmesí | Arturo Ripstein | Mexico |
| 1997 | Martín (Hache) | Martín (Hache) | Adolfo Aristarain | Argentina |
| 1998 | Life is to Whistle | La Vida es Silbar | Fernando Pérez | Cuba |
| 1999 | Olympic Garage | Garage Olimpo | Marco Bechis | Argentina |
| 2000 | Me You Them | Eu Tu Eles | Andrucha Waddington | Brazil |
| 2001 | The Swamp | La Ciénaga | Lucrecia Martel | Argentina |
| 2001 | 90 Miles | 90 Millas | Juan Carlos Zaldivar | United States |
| 2002 (s) | City of God | Cidade de Deus | Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund | Brazil |
| 2002 (s) | Suddenly | Tan de repente | Diego Lerman | Argentina |
| 2003 | Havana Suite | Suite Habana | Fernando Pérez | Cuba |
| 2004 | Whisky | Whisky | Juan Pablo Rebella & Pablo Stoll | Uruguay |
| 2005 | Blessed by Fire | Iluminados por el fuego | Tristán Bauer | Argentina |
| 2006 | Love for Sale | O Céu de Suely | Karim Aïnouz | Brazil |
| 2007 | Silent Light | Stellet Lijcht | Carlos Reygadas | Mexico |
| 2008 | Tony Manero | Tony Manero | Pablo Larraín | Chile |
| 2009 | The Milk of Sorrow | La Teta Asustada | Claudia Llosa | Peru |
| 2010 | A Useful Life | La vida útil | Federico Veiroj | Uruguay |
| 2011 | Hell | El Infierno | Luis Estrada | Mexico |
| 2012 | NO | NO | Pablo Larraín | Chile |
| 2013 | Heli | Heli | Amat Escalante | Mexico |
| 2014 | Behavior | Conducta | Ernesto Daranas | Cuba |
| 2015 | The Club | El club | Pablo Larraín | Chile |
| 2016 | Desierto | Desierto | Jonás Cuarón | Mexico |
| 2017 | Alanis | Alanis | Anahí Berneri | Argentina |
| 2018 | Birds of Passage | Pájaros de verano | Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego | Colombia |
| 2019 | The Sleepwalkers | Los sonámbulos | Paula Hernández | Argentina |
| 2021 | Pacified | Pacificado | Paxton Winters | Brazil |
| 2022 | The Great Movement | El gran movimiento | Kiro Russo | Bolivia |
| 2023 | Tótem | Tótem | Lila Aviles | Mexico |

## Awards by nation

| Argentina | 12 |
| Mexico | 10 |
| Brazil | 9 |
| Cuba | 7 |
| Chile | 3 |
| Uruguay | 2 |
| Peru | 1 |
| United States | 1 |
| Venezuela | 1 |
| Colombia | 1 |
| Bolivia | 1 |

## Footnotes

* ↑ Havana Film Festival at the Internet Movie Database.
* ↑ "Fundadores". Habana Film Festival. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
* ↑ "Fundadores". Habana Film Festival. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
* 1 2 Burnett, Victoria (2013-04-22). "Alfredo Guevara Valdés, 87, Steward of Cuban Cinema and Castro Ally, Dies". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-11-29.
* ↑ "Iván Giroud Reappointed Director of the Havana Film Fest". Cinema Tropical. Cinema Tropical. 2013-05-18. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
* ↑ Havana Film Festival Archived 2007-02-18 at the Wayback Machine website, Awards section.
* ↑ "Premios Coral de la edición 42 del Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano". Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano (in Spanish). 11 December 2021. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
* ↑ "Premios Coral de la edición 43 del Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano". Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano (in Spanish). 15 December 2022. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
* ↑ "La mexicana ´Tótem´ triunfa en el Festival Internacional de Cine de La Habana". Swiss Info (in Spanish). 7 September 2024. Retrieved 7 September 2024.