“December smells like cinema” in Havana

If we let our memories or imagination carry us away, or think about anecdotes we have heard, Paris is made of lights; Vienna is written in symphonies; Berlin tastes like theater, and Italy in the spring becomes “fashionable.” According to Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, “December smells like cinema” in Havana. And Galeano, author of The Book of Embraces, knows what he’s talking about.

For some people, the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana is just another event; for others, it is the most important happening of the year, and yet others consider it their own. One thing is certain: whatever its degree of importance, the festival for many means unpacking winter clothes and taking to the city’s movie theaters. Havana begins “rolling,” and “projects” into the continent. Posters, announcements and popcorn are everywhere, along with exclusive premieres, late-night screenings and endless lines to see the latest film by Subiela, Sorín, Fernando Pérez, Almodóvar or Meirelles. There are too many stories to tell in one day.

For 34 years now, this film festival has been one of the most important in the region, bringing visibility to, uniting and stimulating the creation of film in our countries. As time has gone by, we have developed a special awareness that has turned us into film buffs par excellence. It is common to see people of any age coming out of a screening and debating a Polish, Iranian, Argentine or French film. This film culture is a result of a guiding principle of the art that was described by Alfredo Guevara, in the early years of the Revolution, as the “decolonization of the screens.”

That is why ardent enthusiasts like me cannot wait for a whole year to catch up with the most recent productions by our filmmakers. But now only a few days are left. From Dec. 4-14, the 34th International Festival of New Latin American Cinema will take place. This year’s event will celebrate one century of Puerto Rican film, and honor several prestigious figures: Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni in the centenary of his birth, recently-deceased and celebrated French documentary-maker Chris Marker, and well-known Czech surrealist animator Jan Švankmajer. The aroma of opening night is making itself felt already.

Statements by Alfredo Guevara, president of the Festival of New Latin American Cinema, at a press conference in Havana on Nov. 12, 2012.

New technologies have unleashed the possibility of independent film. We are seeing an explosion in cinema that needs to find new ways to structure itself, but as a festival, we are nothing but a thermometer. I think that everything needs to be changed, and that it will be changed, because life imposes itself. The real challenge for us is to open our doors and windows to that explosion of young filmmakers who are all over Latin America. They are the new Latin American cinema; they are its owners.