The 43rd edition of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema begins in Havana on Thursday with an invitation to enjoy in large, after two years of restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Charles Chaplin movie theater will host the festival’s opening gala at 19:00 local time, where outstanding musician, singer, and producer “X Alfonso” will perform. The film “Argentina 1985,” by director Santiago Mitre, which won the Audience Award at the San Sebastian Festival in Spain and candidate to represent its country at the Oscars, will also be screened. Yumey Besú, director of Cuba’s biggest film festival, said that the event, which runs until December 11, brings together more than 100 films. Fifteen of these are full-length figure films, 15 are mid-length and short-length films, 17 are documentary stories, and 10 are short documentary features, while in the animation section, 29 are films, and 15 are first works. Besú explained that the juries received more than 2,000 films from all over the continent, especially Argentina, Mexico, and Brazil, from which they chose the Latin America in Perspective program and the Special Screenings section. The collateral exhibitions include a sample of Restored Classics, an International Contemporary Panorama, 30 posters exhibition by artists from 11 countries, and launches of books by the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry. Founded by Cuban filmmaker Alfredo Guevara on December 3, 1979, and attended by more than 600 Latin American filmmakers, the event’s highest distinction is the “Coral Award”, which symbolizes the reefs of the Caribbean Sea