Tributes, Premieres, Cuba’s Debut at Film Fest

Havana, Dec 3. -Tributes to personalities of literature and cinema, premieres of films from Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Europe, and Cuba's debut mark Saturday, the third day of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema.The Foundation of the New Latin American Cinema (FNCL) will pay tribute to Literature Nobel prizewinner Gabriel Garcia Marquez, while Havana's La Rampa movie theater will open an exhibition from the International Cinema and Television School to honor Alfredo Guevara, president of the festival.

One of the most important cinema and theater figures, late actor Adolfo Llaurado, will receive a posthumous tribute, with the screening of a DVD with his most important performances.

"La vida de Heleno" (Heleno's Life) (1920-1959), a mythical, controversial Brazilian soccer player from the 1940s, is the theme of a film with the same name, and "El Infierno" (Hell), by Mexican filmmaker Luis Estrada, which deals about violence, corruption and the economic crisis in that country, are among the premieres of the festival today.

Cuba will debut in the Festival with the film "Marina," by filmmaker Enrique Alvarez, and "Habanastation," by young film director Ian Padron. The latter is one of the biggest box-office hits of Cuban cinema in recent times, and was proposed by Cuban experts and critics to the Oscar Awards in the category of best foreign language film.

The development of Serbian films, one of the 14 presentations parallel to the 33rd edition of the Festival, will be the focus of one of the news conferences at the emblematic Hotel Nacional, the main venue of this cinema event.

As part of lectures, master classes and workshops included in the festival's agenda, Friday's agenda also discussed issues related to the FNCL integration work, and the announcement of co-productions of Cuban films with Olympusat, a U.S. satellite TV distribution. (Prensa Latina)