Havana at 24 Frames per Second

There are some events that become traditions. They fill a space so naturally that you cannot help but notice how void that space was before. This may seem overly romantic but that is the feeling that many people have had during the first fortnight in December for almost thirty years. In those two weeks, the annual Havana Film Festival takes place.

Havana and the festival are so closely linked that there is no way to imagine them apart. During those days in December, whether it is sunny, rainy or unseasonably hot, the streets of Havana are buzzing with activity. The lines in front of movie theatres appear and people get ready, mentally and physically, for the upcoming marathon. It starts at 10:00 am with hours and hours of movies. Movies in many languages, from many regions of the world, full of strange problems and issues, or others clearly recognizable in the context of our time and society. People from all over Cuba and from other countries, with their packs ready for a long stay, come to Havana for this event lasting eleven days.

Once Upon a Time … 40 Years Ago

Viña del Mar, Chile, 1967. A group of intellectuals of the Latin American vanguard gather to talk about cinema. They discuss what they have in common: the continent's difficult circumstances and their ideas regarding moviemaking. The group becomes a movement called the "New Latin American Cinema." They meet two years later but for the last time in Chile. A decade later, in 1979, one of those men, Alfredo Guevara then president of the Cuban Institute of Cinema Art and Industry, summons them again. Many answer the call