The Cuban film De cierta manera (1974) will open the third edition of the Paris Latin American Film Festival on 1 April, an event in which its director, Carlos Tello, today placed high expectations.

Speaking to Prensa Latina, Tello, who is also in charge of the selection of materials, expressed his confidence that the French public, and in particular Parisians and Latin American residents, will flock to the Saint-Michel cultural space, a sort of temple of the seventh art built in 1911 in the emblematic Quartier latin, during the six days of the festival.

Tello commented that he was eager to share with the festival’s followers the Cuban film De cierta manera, directed by Sara Gómez, who died during the filming, and whose work was continued by the filmmakers Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Julio García Espinosa.

I think it is an intelligent reflection on politics, colonialism and the male world,» she said of the film starring Mario Balmaseda, Yolanda Cuéllar and Mario Limonta.

According to the director of the event, for the opening and closing ceremonies, films are chosen that are likely to generate public attention, but that do not meet the requirements to be part of the selection in competition, aimed at recent proposals, several of them premieres in the City of Light.

The Argentinean film Invasión (1969), by Hugo Santiago, will be the closing film.

The Paris Latin American Film Festival will award four prizes on 6 April: the Grand CLaP Jury Prize for Best Feature Film and Best Short Film, the CLaP University Prize, decided by university students, and the CLaP Audience Prize.

Tello highlighted the opportunity that this festival of the seventh art represents for the French to get closer to Latin American cinema and for filmmakers and actors from this part of the world to make their work known on the old continent.