• Submitted by: admin
• Arts and Culture
• Cinema
• 12 / 10 / 2006

La edad de la peseta, by Pavel Giroud, and Páginas del diario de Mauricio, by Manuel Pérez, are the Cuban bets on a list lead by Brazil and Argentina with five films each, Mexico with three and Chile and Peru with two each.

La edad de la peseta is Pavel Girouds return to the festival after his debut a couple of years ago with internationally awarded Tres veces dos. This time Giroud tells the story of an 11 year-old- boy engaged in a difficult relationship with his grandmother after their parents divorce. Girouds film was highly acclaimed at the Toronto Festival this year.

Páginas del diario de Mauricio is Manuel Pérez (El hombre de Maisinicú) fourth long length film and marks his return to the fiction motion pictures business after 22 years. Screened at Montreal Festival this year, the film took the jurys Special Award at Huelva Festival.

The film tells the story of a lonely man that turns 60 in 2000. The picture focused on key stages of Mauricios life along 12 years beginning in 1988, when dramatic changes affecting the world, his country and his life shook his certitudes.

Also from Cuba La pared, by Alejandro Gil; El Benny, by Jorge Luis Sánchez, and Mañana, by Alejandro Moya, compete at the Opera Prima section. Films from Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Puerto Rico and Chile rival against the three Cuban long length films.

La pared is a psychosocial drama depicting the traumas of Diego, a man that isolates himself because of his inability to understand humankind.

Mañana, Cubas first independent movie inaugurates, according to critics, a new language in filmmaking in Cuba. It tells the story of Tony, a 25 years-old-man, who is spoiled by his family but a sequence of events brings a dramatic change to his life and family.

And last but not least, El Benny, by Jorge Luis Sánchez, is Cubas third choice at Havanas Festival Opera Prima section. The film, one of Cubas biggest box office hits ever, is also Cubas choice for the Oscar. Though it is not a biography, the film is a touching picture about Cubas greatest singer ever Benny Moré.

With four documentaries and seven animated films, Cuba closes its bets at the festival, which reported more than a thousand and a half films submitted to the selection committee. One hundred and five films from more than 10 nations are rivaling for the Coral.