Well if you missed them last spring: here is another chance to view San Francisco award-winning films in Cuba.


The 25th International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana will present a selection of award-winning films from the 46th San Francisco International Film Festival in Havana, Cuba, December 2 -12, 2003.

The 46th San Francisco International Film Festival Awards section of the
Havana Film Festival will include LOST BOYS OF SUDAN, Golden Gate Award Best
Bay Area Documentary Feature; THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND, Golden Gate Award
Best Documentary Feature; HEART OF THE SEA: KAPOLIOKA¹EHUKAI, VIRGINMEGA
Audience Award Best Documentary Feature; WHALE RIDER, VIRGINMEGA Audience
Award Best Narrative Feature and THE MAN OF THE YEAR, SKYY Prize for best
first feature.

In 2001 Executive Director Roxanne Messina Captor and Director of
Programming Linda Blackaby of the Film Society expanded the Latin American
programming at the San Francisco Festival and in 2002 invited Ivan Giroud,
director of the Havana festival, to join the International Advisory Board.
Giroud attended the San Francisco Festival last spring and afterwards
extended an invitation to Messina Captor to bring the award-winning films to
Cuba.

In making the announcement Messina Captor said, "Recently we have sought to
strengthen our Latin American programming and increase our ties to the
filmmaking community of this artistically rich and diverse region. Last
year¹s SF International Film Festival presented over 20 feature and shorts
programs from Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Cuba, including a
tribute to legendary Cuban filmmaker Nelson Rodríguez. This trip underscores
the primary goals of the San Francisco Film Society to foster cross-cultural
exchange, understanding and educational opportunities. We are extremely
honored to be participating in one of the major events in the Latin American
cinema world and look forward to selecting new Latin American films and
filmmakers to introduce to Bay Area audiences at the 47th Festival."

>From Havana Ivan Giroud said, ³During the week that I spent at the San
Francisco International Film Festival last spring I observed the
enthusiastic and warm reception with which the San Francisco community
received the Latin American films and filmmakers. The San Francisco Festival
is an important showcase for Latin American films and I was even able to see
Latin American films that I hadn¹t had a chance to see before. In welcoming
the San Francisco delegation to Havana I¹m delighted to expand our
collaboration with the Festival and hope to establish deeper ties of
friendship between the peoples of Cuba and the United States.²

The San Francisco International Film Festival delegation traveling to Cuba
December 6-12, will include Messina Captor, Blackaby, Miguel Pendás
(Creative Director of the Film Society), Megan Mylan (codirector/coproducer
LOST BOYS OF SUDAN), Charlotte Lagarde (codirector/producer HEART OF THE
SEA: KAPOLIOKA¹EHUKAI), Sam Green (codirector/coproducer THE WEATHER
UNDERGROUND), Bill Siegel (codirector/coproducer THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND)
and Carrie Lozano (coproducer THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND).