April 17, 2015 – The DGA Theater – New York, NY
The 16th Havana Film Festival in New York announced the Havana Star Prize Winners last night at the Closing Night Ceremony at the New York Directors Guild Theatre.
- Refugiado by Diego Lerman (Argentina) won the Havana Star Prize for Best Feature.
- Best Director and Best Screenplay went to Cuban helmer Arturo Sotto for Boccaccerías Habaneras (Boccaccio in Havana)
- Best Actor to the Uruguayans Hector Noguera and Nestor Guzzini for Mr. Kaplan
- Best Actress to the Cuban Isabel Santos for Vestido de novia (His Wedding Dress)
- Otra isla (Another Island) by Heidi Hassan won the Havana Star Prize for Best Documentary
- Special Jury Mentions went to feature film Venecia (Venice) by Kiki Alvarez, and documentaries El silencio de las moscas (The Silence of the Flies) by Eliezer Arias and Un asunto de tierras (A Matter of Land) by Patricia Ayala Ruiz
Panelists honored Nobel laureate Garcia Marquez at the Havana Film Festival’s special Tribute for the famed Columbian novelist “Gabriel García Márquez : Cinephile” where a discussion followed a rare special screening of The Blue Lobster (La Langosta Azul), the only film in which Gabriel Garcia Marquez had a role as a director. After-party Blue Lobster 16th Havana Film Festival HFFNY NYC & ‘Gloria’ Star Actress Sofia Espinosa at the 16th Havana Film Festival NY wears Designer dresses on the red carpet Trista at Havana
The Havana Film Festival(HFFNY) is an annual film festival held in New York city designed to give a behind-the-scenes look at an industry that continues to gain global recognition. In collaboration with Havana’s International Festival of New Latin America, the Caribbean and the U.S. Latino community, HFFNY seeks to cultivate audience-artist dialogue through panel discussions, thereby offering directors, actors and producers an opportunity to exchange ideas, promote current and future projects, and expand the vision of Latino culture for a diverse audience.
The HFFNY is the flagship project of American Friends of the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba (AFLFC), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The AFLFC is a leader in cultural exchange between the U.S. and Cuba. Its programs enable American and Cuban artists, art students, professionals and academics to correspond with each other, providing rich and rewarding experiences that serve as the foundation for the development of their careers while building cultural bridges between both nations. For more information visit www.aflfc.org.
Orange is the New Black’s Olga Meridiz at the 16th Havana Film Festival