CUBA’S MOVIE FESTIVALS
Are you a movie fan? Did you know that Cuba hosts five major movie festivals every year as well as several small ones, and a few biannual ones? Movie festivals are an exciting time in Cuba, with students skipping classes to attend film premiers and long lines stretching around the block.
A couple of years ago I began working as a translator for Cuba’s Latin American Movie Festival which is held in Havana every December. There are usually six or seven of us translating from French, English, Portuguese and any other language that has a film included in the festival. Aside from our duties with foreign attendees, we also translate the films that are presented. Sometimes we must translate up to three movies in a week, and it is exhausting work. We have to go to the theatres to ensure that the translation is being displayed accurately.
Cuba’s five major movie festivals are the Gibara Film Festival, Young Cinema Directors Festival, Havana’s French Cinema Festival, African Cinema Festival and European Cinema Festival.
If you are visiting Cuba attending one of our movie festivals is a great addition to any itinerary, and if you’re traveling in the summer it’s a great way to beat the summer heat. The Gibara International Film Festival, dedicated to the production of low-budget films, is going on right now from July 1 to July 7, 2018.
By David Hernandez