The First International Film Festival in Caracas

On Friday, September 12, Venezuela’s First International Film festival commenced in Caracas. The film festival features over 100 movies that are being screened in theaters, and cultural spaces throughout Caracas. The films are produced by directors, animators, and documentarians from across Latin America. Of the 89 films that have been entered into the competition, one will be selected by popular vote and the winning film will be shown on Saturday, September 21.

All entries have been selected by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the film festival’s logo, in which the South American continent is oriented in a direction counter to standard maps, demonstrates the desire to reverse the cultural acculturation that emanates from Hollywood and instead, to feature the voices, talent, art, and cultural production of film makers in Latin America.

Many of the venues participating in the festival are newly recuperated theaters, cultural spaces and parks. President Maduro used the film festival as an opportunity to recuperate Cine Cipreses which has been abandoned for over 35 years and will now be used for cultural programming. According to the state newspaper, El Correo del Orinoco, half of the tickets have already been sold out and so the organizers are calling the festival “a success.”

The International Film Festival of Caracas was preceded by a week of Insurgent Film screenings, in cultural centers and parks throughout Caracas and in the surrounding barrios.

Text by: Cory Fischer-Hoffman (Venezuelanalysis.com)