Festival of New Latin American Cinema, in Havana Cuba.

Festival of New Latin American Cinema, in Havana

This annual 14 day festivals which focuses on Latin American movies and film, is a regular event on the Havana events calender and is a great event to be in Cuba for. Taking place every December (normally in the first half of the month), movies depicting Latin America produced films play on cinema screens across Havana. This festival is called the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Habana (Havana) and is a tradition that first began in the year 1979.

In the years since it started, the festival has evolved into one of the best movie festivals and events in the Latin America region and it now attracts those interested in the movie industry, from a number of countries in Central and South America. You might call this the Caribbean equivalent of the Cannes Film Festival, with many stars normally in attendance at this show, from the region. A number of prizes are awarded such as for the best film.

If you are able to get tickets for one of the movies or after movie shows, it is a great way to network in the industry in addition to seeing what key movies will be released to the general public the following year. There is a strong and lively artistic movie scene so expect to see a wide range of movies. The movies are separated into certain themes and categories for the sake of the awards.

In addition to the movies themselves (and do not forget they are likely to be in Spanish if you are trying to get tickets for one of the movies) there are usually seminars and a number of additional events which are organised around the festival.