The Havana Film Festival is a Cuban festival that focuses on the promotion of Latin American filmmakers. It is also known in Spanish as Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana, and in English as International Festival of New Latin American Cinema of Havana.^[1] It takes place every year during December in the city of Havana, Cuba.

The inaugural International Festival of New Latin American Cinema was held on December 3, 1979, and more than 600 film directors of Latin America responded to the first call made by the Cuban Institute of the Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC). Its founders included ICAIC president Alfredo Guevara, and the filmmakers Julio García Espinosa and Pastor Vega.^[2]

As expressed in its founding convocation, the festival aimed to "promote the regular meeting of Latin American filmmakers who with their work enrich the artistic culture of our countries (…); ensure the joint presentation of fiction films, documentaries, cartoons and current events (…), and contribute to the international diffusion and circulation of the main and most significant productions of our cinematographies".^[3]

The inaugural festival hosted over 600 filmmakers from across Latin America. Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez as president of the Fiction jury and Cuban filmmaker Santiago Álvarez as president of the jury for Documentaries and Animation. The Coral Grand Prize winners were Colonel Delmiro Gouveia (dir. Geraldo Sarno, Brazil) and Maluala (dir. Sergio Giral, Cuba) in Fiction, The Battle of Chile: the Struggle of a People Without Arms (dir. Patricio Gúzman, Chile) in Documentary, and Elpidio Valdés (dir. Juan Padrón, Cuba) in Animation.^[4]

In 2013, following the death of current President and co-founder Alfredo Guevara^[4] the Havana Film Festival announced that it was reappointing Iván Giroud as its President. Giroud had previously served as President from 1994-2010.^[5]

Within the following categories, approximately 40 awards are given:^[6]

• Films
• Documentaries
• Animation
• First Work
• Direction
• Cinematography
• Other Awards, including a FIPRESCI prize