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• 03 / 11 / 2009

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The Tenth Santiago Álvarez International Documentary Festival opened on Monday in the city of Santiago de Cuba and runs through March 13 featuring documentaries in and out of competition from several countries including Mexico, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Brazil and Cuba.

The festival, in memoriam of famous Cuban documentary filmmaker Santiago Álvarez, was opened by Álvarez’ life partner and festival director Lázara Herrera, who spoke about the struggles over the past ten years to have a festival in Santiago dedicated to documentaries.

The festival’s theoretical session was inaugurated on Monday with a conference by Argentine photographer Carlos Bosch. On Tuesday, Spanish specialist Román Gubert will host a discussion on “Objectivity and Motive in Documentary Film.” Other scheduled speakers at this year’s festival are Reynaldo Gonzalez from Cuba, who will present, “The Treatment of Rumba in Cinema: Did They Document or Leave Out the Cuban Idiosyncrasy; and Pau Montagu, from Spain who will present, “The Television Documentary.”

The festival will also feature two book presentations: Sinfonía inconclusa para cine cubano (Unfinished symphony for the Cuban cinema) by Frank Padron; and Santiago Álvarez, testimonios, relámpagos en un instante de peligro (Santiago Alvarez, Testimonies, lightning in a moment of danger), a compilation by Argentine Sebastian Russo. In addition, a photography competition will be held for the first time, parallel to the festival.

“I hope that this Tenth festival flows as previous ones, which have contributed greatly to the discovery of new documentary filmmakers worldwide. It represents an opportunity to instil the passion for film, especially documentaries, into the younger generations, to inspire a new way of saying things,” said Lázara Herrera

(Juventud Rebelde)