Four decades have been completed by the Foundation for New Latin American Cinema, an institution defending diversity and roots

Its first president, Gabriel García Márquez, stated the ultimate goal on the 4th of December 1986: «nothing less than achieving the integration of Latin American cinema. That simple, and that immoderate». That day saw the inauguration of the headquarters – at the Quinta Santa Bárbara, in Cuba – of the Foundation for New Latin American Cinema, founded exactly one year earlier. Fidel Castro, the «world’s least known filmmaker», also in Gabo’s words, was there, providing impetus.

It was a time when continental dreams were being considered and made possible, recalled, this Monday, one of the founders, the Colombian filmmaker Lisandro Duque, at the event for the Foundation’s 40th anniversary, attended by, among other authorities and personalities, Yuniasky Crespo Baquero, Head of the Ideological Department of the Central Committee of the Party, and Inés María Chapman Waugh, Vice Prime Minister.

On the occasion, the Minister of Culture, Alpidio Alonso, emphasised the importance of this institution as a space for resistance, cultural diversity and debate; as well as the political will of the Cuban state to support it; which is – he affirmed – an expression of the importance the Revolution places on culture.

It was a propitious moment to honour those who began, and those who strive daily to recover the founding spirit – an imponderable, according to the Minister –; for this reason, the filmmaker and professor Verónica Córdova, representing the Superior Council and the Board of Directors of the Foundation, dedicated yellow butterflies (in a clear allusion to García Márquez), among other individuals and institutions, to Fidel, to Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, Leader at the forefront of the Cuban Revolution; and to Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic.

Likewise, the Festival of New Latin American Cinema presented an Honorary Coral Award to Alquimia Peña Cedeño, who was the Foundation’s executive secretary and director general. The Jesús Menéndez Medal was also awarded to the founder Lucía Martínez Dreke; and the National Culture Distinction to Verónica Córdova.

Alberto Marrero, the current director, received the tributes bestowed upon the Foundation by the International School of Film and Television, and the Venezuelan government, represented by its Vice Minister of Audiovisual Culture, Sergio Arria.