The XVIII Gibara International Film Festival (FICGibara) will begin on 6 August in Gibara, Holguín province, with 83 films in official competition for the Lucía Awards.

Lilian Morales, general coordinator of FICGibara, told Agencia Cubana de Noticias in an exclusive interview that the films were selected after analysing more than 900 works received and will compete in the categories of feature films and short films – both fiction – feature films and short documentaries, and animated works.

Morales recognised Cuba, Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Hungary and the United States among the countries with the greatest participation in the festival.

He pointed out that FICGibara will begin with the screening of the feature-length fiction film «Sin Papeles» (2023), by the Chilean-Canadian producer Christian de la Cortina.

The film denounces the reality of many migrants in the United States and is the ideal setting for the filmmaker himself to connect in a profound way with his Latin roots, he added.

He added that the event will serve as a platform to present the Lucía de Honor Prize – the highest award of the festival – to filmmakers Manuel Herrera (1942), Manuel Pérez Paredes (1939), and director of photography Livio Delgado (1938), in homage to the 65th anniversary of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry.

The event will take place in the usual venues in Gibara, and other sub-sites will be used in the city of Holguín itself, such as the Martí Cinema and the Plaza de la Revolución Mayor General Calixto García Íñiguez, he said.

The Gibara International Film Festival will run until 10 August.

During the event there will be a strong, historical and foundational look inspired by the Manifesto of Poor Cinema, created by the famous Cuban filmmaker Humberto Solás (1941-2008), linking the community with the seventh art and the economic-social development of the region.