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• Arts and Culture
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• 12 / 18 / 2006

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By Michel Hernández

For the last 11 days Cubas many movie addicts and a host of foreign visitors enjoyed the more than four hundred full length, short fiction, documentary and animated films screened at 18 Havana theaters.

The awards ceremony for the 28th edition of the yearly event took place at the Karl Marx Theater, the capitals largest indoor venue.

In "El Cielo de Suely", Hermila returns to her home town with her young son. However, when things dont work out as planned, she invents a non-conventional way to raise funds in order to leave.

Second prize in the fiction category went to the Argentine film "El Camino de San Diego", directed by Carlos Sorin, 62. The film traces the long journey of an unemployed fan of soccer great Diego Maradona to take a wood carving to his hero in Buenos Aires.

Brazilian entrees also took third place with "Los 12 Trabajos" by director Ricardo Elias and the best soundtrack by singer-songwriter Chico Buarque in "El mas grande amor del mundo."

The Havana Film Festivals Opera Prima category went to Cuban director Jorge Luis Sanchez for his film "El Benny" that recreates the life of the singing legend of traditional Cuban music, Benny More. Another Cuban contender, "Paginas del diario de Mauricio" received a special mention by the jury.

The Cuban film "La edad de la peseta" won two awards with Luis Najmias Jr. winning for best photography and Vivian del Valle for best art direction.

Best documentary went to Mexican director Juan Carlos Rulfo, 42, for "En el hoyo", about the hopes, dreams and daily struggles of workers that built the second level of the motorway around Mexico City.

The prize for the best screenplay went to Daniel Burman of Argentina for "Derecho de familia" and the best unpublished screenplay to Arturo Sotto of Cuba for "Peter Pan Kids."

The Best Actor award went to Julio Chavez for his role in "El custodio" and the Best Actress to Hermila Guedes in "El cielo de Suely."

In the experimental film competition, special recognition went to Esteban Insausti of Cuba for "Existen", and in the animated film category "Mapelle", by Argentine director Javier Mrad.

The evenings awards ceremony was capped by a special presentation of "Volver" by Spanish director Pedro Almodovar.

Though the festival came to an official close on Friday night, many of the winning films will have additional showings on Saturday and Sunday.

Source: Granma