Cuban Film Festival
The Films of Fernando Pérez

Winner of numerous prizes, Peréz began his career as assistant to two of Cuba's most influential directors, Tomas Guitierrez Alea and Santiago Alvarez. Peréz also has directed the films LA VIDA ES SILBAR (Life is to Whistle, 1998) and CLANDESTINOS (Living Dangerously, 1987), and is currently at work on a documentary, SUITE HABANA. The films of Fernando Peréz are known for their absurdist humor, lyrical cinematography, magical realism, and affection for the people of Cuba.

The 1998 film LIFE IS TO WHISTLE, a quirky tale of life in Havana, premiered at the Havana Film Festival where it won Best Film, Best Director and Best Cinematography. It also received the Special Jury Prize in Latin American Cinema at Sundance. LIFE IS TO WHISTLE achieved wide international exposure for Pérez and has sparked interest in his earlier work.

HELLO HEMINGWAY
Thursday, 11/14, at 7:00 p.m.
(Cuban, 1991, 90 mins, color, video)

Prior to this screening Ann Marie Stock, an authority on Cuban film and Dean of the International Studies Program at the College of William and Mary in Virginia will present a lecture on Cuban cinema and the work of Fernando Pérez.

Set in the 1950s, HELLO HEMINGWAY presents the love story of two young Cuban students. Turned on to American literature by Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, Larita dreams of escaping poverty to study in the U.S. Victor, on the other hand, is more concerned with Cuban politics and economic injustice. The film won the Grand Coral-First Prize at the Havana Film Festival and was nominated for Best Spanish Language Foreign film at the Goya Awards of the Spanish Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

MADAGASCAR
Friday, 11/15, at 7:00 p.m.
(Cuban, 1994, 49 mins, color, video)

MADAGASCAR examines the generational divide between a mother and daughter living in Havana. Young Laurita drops out of school to plan a trip to Madagascar, an African nation that becomes for her an imaginary refuge from reality. Laura, meanwhile, is exasperated and bewildered by her daughter's behavior. The film won awards at the Berlin International, Havana, and Sundance Film Festivals.

Immediately following this screening film scholar Ann Marie Stock will present film commentary and Q&A. She is an authority on Cuban film, a past juror at the Sundance Film Festival, and Dean of the International Studies Program at the College of William and Mary in Virgina. She is also the editor of a book, Framing Latin American Cinema: Contemporary Critical Perspectives (1997).

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