Image: Prensa Latina.

Havana, Dec 16 (RHC) The grand event of the seventh art in Cuba concluded with congratulations to the award winners and an invitation to the 45th edition of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema next year.

During the closing ceremony, in the Charles Chaplin Hall of this capital, the Corales awards were presented to the works selected by the different juries in the competition.

The president of the festival, Tania Delgado, also thanked all those who make the magic of cinema possible, all those anonymous personnel who made it possible since December 8 for everything to work in each theater, in each event.

She recalled the pillars of Latin American filmmaking who are no longer with us and highlighted the importance of the International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños (EICTV) in the training of filmmakers from all over the world.

The great recognition to the International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños also came in the words of the awarded filmmakers, who celebrated its 37th anniversary on this day.

Thanks to its founders, Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez, Argentine filmmaker Fernando Birri and Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro, brought loud applause and a standing ovation from the audience.

The Entrevoces choir, directed by maestro Digna Guerra; the Camerata Nueva, the lyrical voice of Cristina Rodríguez, all from Cuba, and Argentine singer-songwriter Aracely Matos, granddaughter of Mercedes Sosa, icon singer of Latin American folk music, were the musical proposals of the night.

A total of 199 films competed in this 44th edition of the Cuban festival, among more than 2,000 submitted to the event, which has established itself as one of the most important of the seventh art in the region.

The Mexican film "Tótem", by Lila Avilés, won the Coral Award for the best fiction feature film in this 44th edition of the Festival.The 2023 film, co-produced by Mexico, Denmark and France, also written by the director, is a tribute to life and learning in it.Avilés won the top prize in the screenplay category, while Noemí González won the art direction award for the film.The Jury's Special Coral Award in this category went to the Uruguayan film El auge de lo humano 3, by Eduardo Williams (Source: Prensa Latina).