Habanastation, Oscar Nomination and Tickets to Paradise, Goya Nomination

Cuban film Habanastation, directed by Ian Padron, was chosen to represent this country for a 2012 Oscar nomination in the category of Best Foreign Language Film.


An awards committee of the Cuban Film Institute, composed of filmmakers Fernando Perez (Suite Havana) and Manuel Perez (Pages from Mauricio's diary) and the editor Manuel Iglesias (El Benny), was responsible for the selection, according to provisions in the rules of the Academy of the Oscar Award.


Starred by children Andy Fornaris and Ernesto Escalona, Habanastation has accumulated successes within and outside the country since its release in past July and Cuban critics described it as the most important film event of the year.


Awarded at the Traverse City Festival in Michigan, founded by Michael Moore and applauded at a screening in Miami, Habanastation tells the story of two classmates, members of a social and family environment very different, who begin a beautiful friendship from their enthusiasm for video games.


Since early September began arriving at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of the United States the various films that will compete in the foreign film section.


The five official candidates in this section will be announced on January 24, 2012 in Los Angeles.


Cuba will also enter the fray for a candidacy to the Goya Awards of the Spanish Academy, with the film Tickets to Paradise, by Gerardo Chijona in the category of Best Spanish-speaking Foreign Film.


Inspired by five testimonies of the book Confessions to a physician, by Jorge Perez, the film addresses the story of five young people in extreme situations, whose fates are intertwined in the same story.


Tickets to Paradise was has been awarded the silver Biznaga, Latin House Award Film Festival in Malaga, Spain, and Havana Star for best film at the Havana Film Festival New York, United States, both in April 2011 .

Danny Glover Meeting in Cuba

The Northamerican actor and producer Danny Glover presides over on Wednesday in this capital a panel about relations and prospects of African and Caribbean filmmakers and the Afro-American community. Invited to a filmmakers meeting from those regions, attended by film directors, academicians and experts from over 30 countries, the protagonist of The Color Purple will also debate the role played by filmmakers of African descent in the United States. The National Association of Cuban Writers and Artists granted the U.S. actor the Tomas Gutierrez Alea Award. Glover is also honorary president of the Traveling Caribbean Film Festival. The meeting will foster a dialogue among international artists on co-production alternatives and the role of cultural industries in panel and round tables with figures such as Malian Moussa Ouane. The event, included in the International Year of African Descent, will conclude its academic year on Friday with a Final Declaration.

Spanish University Honored by Cuba

The University of Havana granted the 280th Anniversary Plaque to the Jose Marti Cuban Culture Department of the University of Zaragoza, for its contributions to stronger bilateral relations. The tribute took place during the opening of an international academic seminar on Spain-Cuba cultural talks, held at the San Geronimo College in the Cuban capital.



The University of Havana's rector, Gustavo Cobreiro, said that the initiative started in 1996 aims to keep alive the presence of Cuban National Hero Jose Marti.


Mr. Cobreiro stressed the importance of that department in professional exchange and the possibility that academics can stay in any of the two countries to carry out research and thus benefit the promotion of both cultures.


Jose Manuel Lopez, rector of the University of Zaragoza, thanked the recognition, and advocated strengthening the historic ties between the two countries for more than five centuries.