Havana Film Festival NY

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Wednesday, 06 April 2011 05:00

Written by L E Shannon

The 12th Havana Film Festival New York (HFFNY) is screening April 7 - 15, 2011 at the Quad Cinema, El Museo del Barrio and NYU's King Juan Carlos II of Spain Center in Manhattan, as well as The Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, plus other venues around New York.

HFFNY presents a selection of the best features, documentaries, and shorts from all over Latin America.

Tribute to Gerardo Chijona
HFFNY honors Gerardo Chijona, the award-winning Cuban director of Adorable Lies, by screening several of his films, culminating in the New York premiere of his latest film, Ticket to Paradise.

Adorables mentiras / Adorable Lies
dir. Gerardo Chijona (Cuba, Spain)
Chijona's first feature is a black comedy. Jorge Luis, a young man with dreams of becoming a screenwriter and film director, meets the beautiful Sissy at a film premiere. In order to impress Sissy, Jorge impersonates a director looking for a non-professional actress and Sissy, who dreams of becoming a successful actress, pretends not to be interested. Thus begins a relationship where the two act as not as they really are, but how they want to be, to escape the dull reality of their lives. With Isabel Santos, Luis Alberto Garcia. Chijona will be present for Q&A.

Ticket to Paradise
In 1993 Cuba, as a severe economic crisis rages, Eunice runs away from her home and village. With nowhere to go, she joins up with a group of homeless teens hitchhiking to Havana. Eunice feels an instant connection to charismatic ringleader Alejandro, but her damaged past and his personal preoccupation stand in the way. Desperate, with no opportunities to improve their lives, the two consider taking extreme measures to reach an unlikely paradise. With Miriel Cejas, Héctor Medina, Dunia Matos, Jorge Perugorría.

Some of the other films are:

World Premieres:

Los Rostros detras de las munecas de Madame Alexander / The Faces Behind Madame Alexander Dolls
dir. Freddy Vargas (Domincan Republic)
This documentary tells the story of Beatrice Alexander Behrman, who in 1923 opened a doll factory in Manhattan that still bears her name, The Madame Alexander Doll Company, Inc. This film is a tribute to all the Dominicans and Latin Americans working in the factory who have dedicated their lives for over 40 years to creating beautiful dolls that have given happiness to both children and adults around the world. These highly sought-after dolls have been collected by celebrities such as Jacqueline Kennedy and Elizabeth Taylor. The director and and cast members will be available for Q&A.

Interactivo, la pelicula / Interactivo, the Movie
dir. Tane Martinez (Cuba, USA)
Interactivo is a Cuban band led by Roberto Carcassés. The launch of its new album "Cubans around the World" accompanies the members through a profound meditation on migration, freedom, and Cuban music. Director will be present for Q&A.

U.S. premieres:

Newen Mapuche: La fuerza de la gente de la tierra / Newen Mapuche: The Force of the People From the Land
dir. Elena Varela (Chile)
Filmmaker Varela embarks on an investigation to tell the story of the last 10 years of struggle of the Mapuche community. After the police detain her and confiscate her film material, the filmmaker now narrates the story from her own experience.

Operacion Peter Pan: Cerrando el circulo en Cuba / Operation Peter Pan: Flying Back to Cuba
dir. Estela Bravo (USA, Cuba)
Between 1960 and1962,  more than 14.000 unaccompanied Cuban children were sent by their parents to the US to "save them from the Revolution," in an Operation by the State Department called Peter Pan. Half a century later, a group of Peter Pans return to Cuba to make peace with their past.

This series of shorts showcases some of the best from the Icarito Central American film festival as well as several films by and about indigenous filmmakers and peoples. These films are having their U.S. premiere:

Yo / Me, dir. Francisco Flores (El Salvador)
La Pila / The Wash House, dir. Fernando Martinez (Guatemala)
Pastillitas de Colores / Colored Little Pills, dir. Carlos F. Lux Oliveros (Guatemala)
¿Va a querer cafe? / Do You Want Some Coffee?, dir. Salvador Fernando Aquilar Estrada (Honduras)
Persecucion / Chase, dir. Emanuel Giron (Nicaragua)
Ri Wachik / Mi sueno /My Dream, dir. Berta Lidia Chirix (Guatemala)
Ixquic, dir. Cesar Manuel Leon Osorio (Guatemala)

Havana Star Prize
HFFNY will present prizes for Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay -- and this year, a new prize for Best Documentary.  

Other events include lively concerts of son, rumba, hip- dancehop, and more by musical legends and rising stars; intimate discussions with Cuban writers, musicians, and thinkers; dance performances, from the classical to contemporary; compelling visual art exhibitions; and more as the creative spirit of Cuba in forms both old and new.

For more information, go to www.hffny.com/2010FA/index.html.

Havana Film Festival New York (HFFNY)
April 7 - 15, 2011

Quad Cinema
34 W. 13 St.
New York City
212- 255-8800

El Museo del Barrio
1230 5th Avenue (at 104th Street)
New York City
212-831-7272

King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center at NYU
53 Washington Square South
New York City

Museum of the Moving Image
36-01 35th Avenue
Astoria, Queens
718-777-6888

Plus other venues around Manhattan

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