HAVANA, Cuba. - From December 4 to 10, the fourth edition of the INSTAR Film Festival will be held in seven cities around the world with a large presence of Cuban emigrants: Barcelona, Paris, New York, Miami, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, and Sao Paulo.

In the case of Cuba, the selection of films will be available online through the Festhome platform. "The concept guiding this edition is the transnational character of New Cuban Cinema, as well as its growing dialogue with diverse cinematographies, especially those from countries also ruled by authoritarian governments," details the event's program.

The Festival is an annual event organized by the Hannah Arendt Institute of Artivism (INSTAR), a collective founded and directed by Cuban performer Tania Bruguera, and curated by Cuban filmmaker José Luis Aparicio.

The first festival took place in Havana in December 2019 and was directed by actress and writer Lynn Cruz. The competition was interrupted for two years by the COVID-19 pandemic and resumed in late 2021, but only online.

The third edition took place in July 2022 at Documenta Fifteen in Kassel, Germany, and consisted of the screening of Land without Images, the largest retrospective of alternative Cuban cinema to date, according to festival organizers.

The current edition will feature an international jury made up of Paulo Antonio Paranaguá, Brazilian critic and historian and one of the authorities on Latin American cinema; Dunja Fehimović, academic specializing in Caribbean cinema and university professor in the UK; and Cuban screenwriter Alejandro Hernández, winner of the Goya Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2013 for Todas las mujeres, by Spanish filmmaker Mariano Barroso.

This jury will award the PM Nicolás Guillén Landrián Award to the film, Cuban or otherwise, "that best reflects a controversial subject." In addition to screenings, the festival organizes workshops, debates, master classes, and expanded cinema exhibitions. Guests from previous editions include filmmakers Milo Rau, Ishtar Yasin, Alonso Ruizpalacios, Alejandro Fadel, Heidi Hassan, Alejandro Brugués, and Miguel Coyula.