Havana, December 7 (RHC)-- A concert by Haydé Milanes and the documentary El Pepe, a Supreme Life by Serbian Director Emir Kusturica opened the 40th New Latin American Film Festival Thursday evening at Havana’s Karl Marx Theater.

The movie festival held in the Cuban capital each year in December includes 40 full-length feature films, 18 first movies, 25 documentaries, 22 short-length feature movies, 24 animated films, 19 unpublished scripts, 24 posters and seven movies in the post-production process.

The jury in charge of evaluating the works in competition was presented earlier on Thursday and is presided over by Argentinian director Luis Puenzo Chilean actor Sergio Hernández, French critic Jean-Christophe Berjon; Brazilian producer Lucía Murat; Mexican filmmaker Jorge Fons and Cuban actress Isabel Santos.

Jury president Luis Puenzo said that the 40th Festival takes place at a time in which film production in Latin American is ‘even’ because ‘all countries are making good films’. ‘It’s now remarkable how the Uruguayan, Chilean, Colombian and Paraguayan film industries have grown,’ Puenzo added, ‘when before the most important cinema was in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina with its ups and downs.’, he concluded.

Puenzo, who gained international recognition with his film La Historia Official (the Official History) with the Canne, Oscar and Golden Globe Awards, said that Latin American film is in a process of generational change with the possibilities that technology offers to make movies.

The 40th New Latin American Film Festival will run in the Cuban capital through December 16th with the screening of more than 370 films, including 333 Latin America and the Caribbean. This year’s festival is dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the founding of Havana in 2019.