Film Che by Steven Soderbergh Premiered at Cuban Cinema Festival

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 7(acn) The film Che by renowned US movie maker Steven Soderbergh was premiered here on Saturday during the 30th International Festival of the New Latin American Cinema.

Actor Benicio del Toro presented the film as he thanked the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC) for its assistance during the shooting of the film, which was the result of a seven-year research work.

During the presentation, Benicio del Toro was joined by other actors such as Brazilian Rodrigo Santoro and Cubans Vladimir Cruz and Jorge Perugorria.

The invitation made by Fidel Castro to Che Guevara to head for Cuba on board the Granma Yacht and start the liberation war was the starting point for the film’s first part titled “The Argentinean”, which deals with the activities of Ernesto Guevara and the 26 of July Movement on the Sierra Maestra Mountain Range, with special emphasis on the historic battle of Santa Clara. The first part of the film also shows excerpts of the speech given by Che at the United Nations in 1964.

The second part, titled “Guerrilla,” stars with the farewell letter, which Che left for Fidel in 1965 and tells about events of the liberation war in Bolivia until it concludes with the assassination of Che Guevara at the locality known as Quebrada del Yuro.

The film Che, will again be screened on Sunday at Havana’s Karl Marx Theater as part of the Festival’s program.

Steven Soderbergh, who was not able to attend the Festival on this occasion, is a committed US film maker with outstanding works like Full Frontal, Traffic and Ocean’s Eleven, among others.
Cuba Film Festival/lach

Estrenan filme "Ché" de Steven Soderbergh en Cuba

Catalog on Cuban Cinema at Havana’s Film Festival

HAVANA , Cuba, Dec 7 (acn) The book Catalog on Cuban Cinema (1897-1960), by author María Eulalia Douglas, was presented on Sunday at Havana’s Hotel Nacional, as part of activities of the 30th International Festival of the New Latin American Cinema.

The textbook provides information on Cuba’s cinematography prior to the creation of the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC), and divides production in those years into two stages: silent movies and the talkies.

The author made a deep study into dates, producers, actors and actresses of different periods, and included additional notes on historic events, which turn this volume into a reference book on the history of Cuban cinema.

Experts of the Seventh Art agree that the catalog is the most complete work on Cuban film production before the 1959 triumph of the Revolution.

Douglas is the main specialist with the Cuban Film Archives; she has devoted her life to researching into the singularities of the world of moving images in the country, on which she has already published several books, among them La Tienda Negra: El Cine en Cuba de 1897 a 1990, (The Black Shop: Cinema in Cuba from 1897 to 1990), which gave her the National Prize for Cultural Research in 1997.

The catalog was launched here along with other books related to film production, like El Cine Soviético del Principio al Fin (Soviet Cinema from Beginning to End), by Zoia Barash, and Lágrimas en la Lluvia (Tears in the Rain), a selection of works published by critic Rufo Caballero.
cubanews/culture/trm/lach

Presentarán catálogo de cine cubano en el XXX Festival