HFFNY Announces the Line-Up of 18 Films Competing to Receive the Havana Star Prize

The Havana Film Festival NY (www.HFFNY.com), flagship project of the nonprofit organization American Friends of the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba (AFLFC), announced the eighteen films competing to receive the Havana Star Prize for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Actress and Best Screenplay, as well as the Havana Star Prize for Best Documentary, which will be awarded on Friday, April 15th at the Closing Night Ceremony (Directors Guild Theater, 6:30 pm).  The festival takes place April 7-15 in venues throughout the city, including Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx; the Village East Cinema (2nd Ave and 12th Street) in Manhattan is its main venue. All foreign language films are subtitled in English.

The recipients will be chosen by prominent members of the film industry and art world. In the Fiction Category the jury is: film programmer Zita Morriña; Spanish actor and writer Txemi Parra; Vice Chancellor of Universidad del Cine of Argentina Mario Santos; and art historian and curator Kevin Moore. In the Documentary Category, the jury is: Guatemalan filmmaker Rafael Rosal; Colombian writer and documentarian Carmen Alarcon; and writer and journalist Kevin Canfield.

The 18 films selected come from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and the United States. Many of the filmmakers will be in New York to present their films.

The films competing for the Havana Star Prize in Fiction are:

1. EL ACOMPAÑANTE / THE COMPANION 

Pavel Giroud | Cuba | 2015 | Fiction | 104min

2. LA GUNGUNA / THE GUNGUNA 

Ernesto Alemany | Dominican Republic | 2015 | Fiction | 87min

3. EL BOSQUE DE KARADIMA

Matías Lira | Chile | 2015 | Fiction | 98min 
 

4. BAILANDO CON MARGOT / DANCING WITH MARGOT 

Arturo Santana | Cuba | 2015 | Fiction | 105min
 

5. EVA NO DUERME / EVA DOESN'T SLEEP 

Pablo Agüero | Argentina | 2015 | Fiction | 85min
 

6. ZOOM 

Pedro Morelli | Brazil - Canada | 2015 | Fiction | 96min
 

7. CUBA LIBRE 

Jorge Luis Sánchez | Cuba | 2015 | Fiction | 120min

8. MAGALLANES - N.Y Premiere

Salvador del Solar | Peru-Colombia | Fiction | 109 min

9. PRESOS / IMPRISONED - N.Y. Premiere

Esteban Ramírez | Costa Rica | 2015 | Fiction | 97min

10. LA PATOTA / PAULINA 

Santiago Mitre | Argentina | 2015 | Fiction | 103min

11. MI AMIGA DEL PARQUE / MY FRIEND FROM THE PARK

Ana Katz | Argentina-Uruguay | 2015 | Fiction | 86min  

The films competing for the Havana Star Prize in Documentary are:

1. EL TREN DE LA LÍNEA NORTE / THE TRAIN ON THE NORTHERN RAILWAY

Marcelo Martín | Cuba | 2015 | Documentary | 80min
 

2. ALLENDE, MI ABUELO ALLENDE / BEYOND MY GRANDFATHER ALLENDE

Marcia Tambutti Allende | Chile | 2015 | Documentary | 100min

3. PACIENTE / PATIENT - N.Y. Premiere

Jorge Caballero | Colombia | 2015 | Documentary | 73min
 

4. EL CUARTO DE LOS HUESOS / THE ROOM OF BONES 

Marcela Zamora | El Salvador - Mexico | 2015 | Documentary | 60min

5. MADE IN BANGKOK 

Flavio Florencio | Mexico | 2015 | Documentary | 75min

6. LA PRENDA / THE PAWN

Jean-Cosme Delaloye | Guatemala - Switzerland | 2015 | Documentary | 78min
 

7. TIEMPO SUSPENDIDO / TIME SUSPENDED

Natalia Bruschtein | Mexico | 2015 | Documentary | 64 min 

This year HFFNY turns 17, making it the longest-running and most established festival celebrating Latin American cinema in the New York tri-state area. HFFNY 2016 will run April 7-15, featuring award-winning films from Cuba and Latin America, many US and NY premieres. 

The presenting sponsor of the 17th HFFNY is NBC/Telemundo 47. Additional sponsorship is provided by El Diario/La Prensa, Cuba Travel Networks, Xael Charters, Pod39 Hotel, Latino Artists Round Table (LART), WBAI Radio, The Mexican Cultural Institute of New York, Habanero Films, Aguijón Films, The Sound of Two, the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York. HFFNY is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the Honorable Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York State legislators and supported, in part, by public funds from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs in collaboration with the City Council.

The Havana Film Festival New York is a project of American Friends of the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba (AFLFC), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization building cultural bridges between the U.S. and Cuba through programs in the arts.

For Havana Film Festival New York information and schedule visit www.HFFNY.com. For screeners, interviews with directors, and high-res photos/images please contact Samantha Choos: 

o: 212.687.2146

c: 203.940.2659

e: press@hffny.com