MADRID, Spain - The INSTAR Film Festival, a film event of growing international relevance, presented on Tuesday the official selection of films that will compete in its fifth edition, scheduled to take place between October 28 and November 3, 2024.

This year, 15 films make up the “In Competition” program, with works from a diverse range of countries such as Cuba, Hong Kong, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Palestine, China, Ukraine, Guinea-Bissau, Russia, Croatia and Costa Rica. The geographic breadth of the participants underscores the transnational character of the festival, which will have venues in cities such as Paris, Munich, Barcelona and Berkeley, California. In Cuba, viewers will be able to access screenings through the online platform Festhome.

The INSTAR Film Festival, organized by the Hannah Arendt Institute of Artivism (INSTAR), led by Cuban artist Tania Bruguera, aims to explore and question the problems of the global south through cinema.

Jose Luis Aparicio, artistic director and programmer of the festival, explained to Diario de Cuba that this year's focus is on filmmakers working at the intersection between cinema and artivism, thus maintaining the Institute's philosophical line. “The 15 works in competition address some of the most urgent and complex issues of their respective socio-political contexts, from an experimental perspective with audiovisual language,” Aparicio commented. He also stressed that the festival has prioritized artists working under dictatorial regimes, in war zones or those who have been forced to live in the diaspora.

Among the works by Cuban filmmakers in competition are Souvenir, by Heidi Hassan; Parole, by Lázaro J. González; La historia se escribe de noche, by Alejandro Alonso; and Petricor, by Violena Ampudia.

While from other latitudes, An Asian Ghost Story (2023), an experimental documentary by Chinese artist Bo Wang, stands out. The work explores the memories of Asian modernization in the 20th century, with a focus on the massive export of wigs during the Cold War. This film has won awards at events such as DOK Leipzig and the Jakarta Documentary and Experimental Film Festival.

Another outstanding film is Smoke of the Fire (2023), directed by Ukrainian filmmaker Daryna Mamaisur, who, from Portugal, narrates the experience of the diaspora caused by the war in Ukraine. This short film has had an outstanding participation in festivals such as FIDMarseille and Visions du Réel. The film combines archival footage and personal videos to portray the divided reality of those seeking refuge abroad while their homes remain under constant danger from the Russian invasion.

Likewise, Only the Moon Will Understand (2023), by Costa Rican director Kim Torres, is another of the works in competition. This short film, set in a small Costa Rican village, has been presented at festivals such as Locarno, New York and Valdivia, and explores the notion of time and space in an isolated community.

The jury for this edition will be made up of renowned figures from the world of film and the arts. Joanna Montero, editor of prominent films such as Santa y Andrés and Mafifa, will be part of the panel, along with Jonathan Ali, director of programming at the Third Horizon Film Festival in Miami and curatorial advisor for Criterion Channel. Italian filmmaker Francesco Montagner, recognized for his film Brotherhood, which won the Cineasti del Presente award at the Locarno Film Festival, will also be a member of the jury.

The festival's main award is the Nicolás Guillén Landrián Prize, which will be given to the film that best addresses a taboo subject in its sociopolitical context through audiovisual language. This award, which includes an endowment of US$3,000, seeks to support the development of the winning filmmaker's next work.

In the last edition of the festival, the documentary Mafifa (2021) by Cuban director Daniela Muñoz Barroso was recognized with this prestigious award. A special mention was also given to La opción cero (2020), by Cuban filmmaker Marcel Beltrán.

The INSTAR Film Festival continues to consolidate itself as a fundamental space for the promotion of independent and critical cinema, providing a platform for voices that emerge from difficult contexts and that use cinematographic art as a tool for resistance and denunciation.