Schedule of the Event:

April 3, 2025

Opening Night Film and 25th Anniversary Fiesta

HFFNY opens with Cuban director Marcos Díaz Sosa's award-winning debut, FENÓMENOS NATURALES, a wildly tropical  take on The Wizard of Oz that addresses urgent social questions with whimsy and dark comedy. Followed by our 25th Anniversary Fiesta at the Copacabana.

FENÓMENOS NATURALES (NATURAL PHENOMENA)

Marcos Díaz Sosa | Cuba, Argentina, France, Mexico | Fiction | 2024 | 80 min | NY PREMIERE

25th ANNIVERSARY / OPENING FIESTA

If you plan to keep the party going once the curtain closes, make sure to purchase a ticket that includes HFFNY's Opening Night Fiesta. After the screening at DGA, HFFNY heads to the new Copacabana Nightclub (625 W 51st St, New York, NY 10019) for an unforgettable party that includes dinner, cocktails, live music, dancing, and a silent auction filled with rare works of art and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Joining the fun will be participating filmmakers, actors, screenwriters, and more! Also, this is a good time for a good cause- all party ticket sales include tax-deductible donations to support the 25th Havana Film Festival New York.

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Time: 6:00pm

Location: DGA New York Theater    

April 4, 2025

BUSCANDO A CASAL / WHERE ARE YOU, CASAL?

Jorge Luis Sánchez | Cuba | Fiction | 2019 | 118 min

Julian del Casal, a 19th-century Cuban poet, dares to confront the island's highest authority by publishing an ironic article about the Captain General. The latter's reaction is swift, and he imposes a tightening siege on Casal’s life, using the lowest means to achieve the artist’s destruction. After facing doubts and defeats, Casal ultimately defends his choice of freedom to the very end.

Time: 2:00pm

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LOS SOBREVIVIENTES / THE SURVIVORS

Tomás Gutierrez Alea | Cuba | Fiction | 1979 | 112 min

Abandoned by their servants, members of an aristocratic family in Cuba are forced to fend for themselves in this classic of Cuban cinema, digitally restored by the Academy. At the triumph of the Revolution, a family of the high bourgeoisie decide to isolate themselves in their mansion and ignore the changes that occurred in the country. They assume that things will soon return to as they were. They live the material and moral disintegration, in a historical regression.

Time: 4:15pm

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ALMA DEL DESIERTO

Mónica Taboada - Tapia | Colombia-Brazil | Documentary | 2024 | 87 min

In the arid landscapes of La Guajira, Colombia, Georgina, a transgender Wayúu woman in the third act of her life, knows that her time is running out and wants to change her existence. With nothing to lose, she sets out to meet her siblings, who don’t speak Spanish and barely survive on the fringes of the opaque Colombian bureaucratic system. Amid open wounds, memories, and unfathomable geographical and emotional distances, Georgina and her people agree that enough is enough. Alma del desierto emerges as a story of resilience, a symbol of hope, and a fervent struggle for justice.

Time: 6:30pm

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EN LA CALIENTE: TALES OF A REGGAETON WARRIOR

Fabien Pisani | Cuba-USA | Documentary | 2024 | 87 min | NY PREMIERE

He came from nowhere, forever changed the country with his music, then disappeared. A tragic portrait of one of the most consequential and forgotten artists in contemporary Cuba. A film about youth, music, and rebellion.

Time: 8:15pm

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April 5, 2025

MEMORIAS DE UN CUERPO QUE ARDE / MEMORIES OF A BURNING BODY

Antonella Sudasassi Furniss | Costa Rica-Spain | Fiction | 2024 | 90 min | NY PREMIERE

Raised in a repressive era where sexuality was taboo, Ana, Patricia, and Mayela found their understanding of womanhood based on unspoken rules and implicit impositions. Now, their fearless voices incarnate in a single 65-year-old woman, who revisits a kaleidoscopic life of intertwined memories, secrets, and hidden desires.

Time: 3:00pm

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¡QUBA!

Kim Anno | U.S. – Cuba | Documentary | 2025 | 70 min | WORLD PREMIERE

This is a story of Cuba's LGBTQ activistas battling for marriage equality through art and humor. Their tenacity and soul-stirring performances transform hearts despite enormous evangelical opposition—proving love's revolutionary power to overcome injustice and remake tradition.

Time: 5:00pm

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CALL ME WAYA, TITO REACCIONA A FRANK FERNANDEZ & OBSESION: MI CANCION

CALL ME WAYA

Charles Abelmann | U.S. - Cuba | Documentary | 2025 | 39 min | WORLD PREMIERE

Call Me Waya follows a Cuban, octogenarian “outsider” artist’s work and tumultuous life trajectory, inviting friends and family to reflect on the consequences and wonders of his bohemian lifestyle.

TITO REACCIONA A FRANK FERNANDEZ  / TITO MEETS FRANK FERNANDEZ

Daniel Martin S | Cuba-U.S. | Animation | 2024 | 5 min

In Tito's YouTube show, we'll be introduced to Frank Fernández, with special collaborations from Chucho Valdés and Edesio Alejandro. This marks their first-ever appearance in an animated film.

OBSESIÓN: MI CANCIÓN

Catherine Murphy | Cuba-U.S. | Documentary | 2024 | 13 min

Duo Obsesión, pioneers of Havana's 1990s Hip Hop scene, used their music to address racial and social justice issues, promoting Black pride and consciousness. Beyond music, they engaged in community activism and popular education, maintaining their impact to this day. This documentary explores their creative work and their unique philosophy of life and music.

Time: 6:45pm

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CULPA CERO / NO GUILT

Valeria Bertuccelli, Mora Elizalde | Argentina-Spain | Fiction | 2024 | 110 min | NY PREMIERE

Berta Muller's life as  a successful self-help writer  is shaken when she is publicly accused of plagiarism.

Time: 8:30pm

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April 6, 2025

YO VI TRES LUCES NEGRAS / I SAW THREE BLACK LIGHTS

Santiago Lozano | Colombia-Mexico-France-Germany | Fiction | 2024 | 87 min | NY PREMIERE

José de los Santos, a 70-year-old Colombian Pacific Coast resident and practitioner of ancestral mortuary rituals, is warned by his murdered son's spirit that he must die in peace and away from home. He embarks on a perilous journey through the jungle, defying armed groups and their curfews, in search of a peaceful death and to avoid purgatory.

Time: 3:00pm

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LA TIERRA DE LA BALLENA / THE LAND OF THE WHALE

Armando Capó | Cuba | Documentary | 2024 | 78 min | US PREMIERE

A filmmaker returns to his town to make a documentary about a whale, but time has turned the town into a place of the past becoming his farewell.

Time: 4:45pm

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LIFE IS DANCE

Eirene Houston | Scotland-Cuba | Documentary | 2024 | 80 min | WORLD PREMIERE

Life is Dance follows the stories of six main protagonists, across three generations. Ordinary Cubans with one thing in common, their love of  dance. Full of colour and music, disappointment and joy, we join these charismatic characters on their journey.

Time: 6:45pm

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POLVO SERÁN / THEY WILL BE DUST

Carlos Marques-Marcet | Spain-Italy-Switzerland | Fiction | 2024 | 106 min | NY PREMIERE

After being diagnosed with a terminal illness, Claudia decides to make her final journey in Switzerland. Flavio, who hasn’t left her side for over forty years, decides to accompany her on this one-way trip.

Time: 8:30pm

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April 7, 2025

BLACK GOD, WHITE DEVIL

Glauber Rocha | Brazil | Fiction | 1964 | 118 min

After killing his swindling boss, ranch hand Manoel (Geraldo Del Rey) goes on the run with his wife, Rosa (Yoná Magalhães). In the stark hinterlands, they join forces with armed bandits and pledge allegiance to a self-styled holy man who preaches revolt against rich landowners while perpetrating unspeakable acts of violence against the innocent.

Time: 1:00pm

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LOS HIJOS DE LA COSTA / CHILDREN OF THE COAST

Bruno Bancalari | Mexico | Documentary | 2024 | 95 min | US PREMIERE

Following different Afro-Mexican musicians from the Costa Chica region (located in the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca, Mexico) immerses us in the popular culture of the coast. Its music reveals the history of a community that pays tribute to its people, the sea, its land, city dwellers, and all that binds it to the countryside. A documentary that portrays musicians in their purest state, enwrapped in their immediate environment, exalting musical tradition as a central principle in the construction of Mexico’s present identity.

Time: 3:10pm

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VIVA EDY! LA HISTORIA DE LA MÚSICA INDESTRUCTIBLE / VIVA EDY! THE STORY OF AN INDESTRUCTIBLE MUSIC

Carlos Ospina | Colombia | Documentary | 2023 | 90 min

"Viva Edy! The Story of an Indestructible Music" is a documentary celebrating Edy Martínez's 50+ year musical career, which began as a self-taught prodigy. The film highlights his collaborations with Latin music legends like Tito Puente and Eddie Palmieri, and reveals his humble, ego-free personality. Through interviews and anecdotes, the film explores his journey and legacy, showcasing his profound impact on the music world.

Time: 5:00pm

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RAÍZ / THROUGH ROCKS AND CLOUDS

Franco García Becerra | Peru-Chile | Fiction | 2024 | 83 min | NY PREMIERE

Feliciano, an 8-year-old alpaca herder, feels euphoric: Peru has a chance to qualify for the World Cup. Meanwhile the pressure of a mining company puts Feliciano´s village at risk and threatens his world and his dreams.

Time: 7:00pm

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April 8, 2025

PRODIGAL DAUGHTER

Mabel Valdiviezo | US-Peru | Documentary | 2024 | 90 min | NY PREMIERE

Filmmaker and former punk artist Mabel Valdiviezo reunites with her family in Peru after 16 years of silence, confronting haunting childhood memories and a troubled past as an undocumented immigrant in the United States.

Time: 1:00pm

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LINDA

Mariana Wainstein | Argentina-Spain | Fiction | 2024 | 100 min | NY PREMIERE

A captivating housemaid unveils a family's dark secrets and erotic fantasies.

Time: 2:45pm

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BLANCANIEVES

Pablo Berger | Spain-France-Belgium | Fiction | 2012 | 104 min

Once upon a time there was a little girl who had never known her mother. She learned the art of her father, a famous bullfighter, but was hated by her evil stepmother. One day she ran away with a troupe of dwarves, and became a legend. Set in southern Spain in the 1920s, Blancanieves is a tribute to silent films. Blancanieves was also Spain’s official entry for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film in 2012.

Time: 4:45pm

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MATRIOSHKA

Jorge Forero | Colombia | Fiction | 2024 | 88 min | US PREMIERE

Ana is back home for the weekend where she gathers with her grandmother, her mother, ...and a big family secret that emerges, indeed a burden which has bothered them for generations.

Time: 6:45pm

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REAS

Lola Arias | Argentina-Germany-Switzerland | Documentary | 2024 | 80 min

Yoseli has a tattoo of the Eiffel Tower on her back and has always wanted to travel, but she was arrested at the airport for drug trafficking. Nacho is a trans man who was arrested for swindling and started a rock band in jail. Gentle or rough, blonde or shaved, cis or trans, long-term inmates or newly admitted: in this hybrid musical, they all re-enact their lives in a Buenos Aires prison.

Time: 8:50pm

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April 9, 2025

EL HUARO

Patricia Wiesse Risso | Peru | Documentary | 2024 | 84 min | US PREMIERE

Crossing the river becomes a challenge with unsuspected consequences. And The Huaro is there to remind them.

Time: 1:00pm

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LA INVENCIÓN DE LAS ESPECIES / ON THE INVENTION OF SPECIES

Tania Hermida | Ecuador-Cuba | Fiction | 2024 | 92 min | NY PREMIERE

Carla arrives in the Galapagos with her father, a biologist and expert in tortoise conservation. While he lectures on breeding endangered species, she faces the risks of her own species. Like the iguanas, who mutated into sea creatures to survive, Carla will transform into Isla and learn to cling to the rock, dive and wait.

Time: 2:45pm

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A CINEMATIC TRIBUTE OF THE BEST SONEROS

Lourdes de los Santos | Cuba | Documentary | 2023 | 35 min | US PREMIERE

Ignacio Villa, Bola de Nieve, famous performer and composer with a very personal style of interpretation. A journey through his life and work and his very peculiar relationship with a famous restaurant in Havana.

Time: 4:45pm

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DESPIERTA MAMA / WAKE UP MOM

Arianne Benedetti | Panama | Fiction | 2024 | 99 min | NY PREMIERE

In a small town in the middle of the mountain, a girl disappears without a trace. As the town’s darkest secrets begin to be revealed, the desperate mother of the little girl undertakes a tireless search trying to find her before it is too late.

Time: 6:20pm

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VUELVE A LA VIDA / BACK TO LIFE

Alfredo & Luis Hueck | Venezuela-USA | Fiction | NY PREMIERE

In 1996, Ricardo returned to Caracas from New York, choosing a road trip with friends over a family vacation. A sudden, severe pain during the trip drastically alters his and his family's lives.

Time: 8:30pm

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April 10, 2025

THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL

Luis Buñuel | Mexico | Fiction | 1962 | 93min

After a dinner party at the Nóbile mansion, the guests find out that, for inexplicable reasons, they cannot leave the place. As the situation continues for several days, politeness gives way to the most primitive and brutal survival instinct. A parable about the decomposition of a social class closed in on itself.

Time: 3:00pm

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Closing Night Film and After-Party: MALECON

Carlos Larrazabal | Spain-Cuba-U.S | Fiction | 2025 | 94 min | NY PREMIERE

Elvis, after 10 years in prison for killing his abusive stepfather, returns to a changed Havana. Faced with an opportunity to escape Cuba, he enters the city's underworld to earn money, while also rekindling a romance with his childhood love, Yuli, and trying to maintain his friendship with Martin. He must balance his desire for freedom with his loyalty to those he cares about.

Time: 6:00pm

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Encore Screening: MALECON

Carlos Larrazabal | Spain-Cuba-U.S | Fiction | 2025 | 94 min | NY PREMIERE

Elvis, after 10 years in prison for killing his abusive stepfather, returns to a changed Havana. Faced with an opportunity to escape Cuba, he enters the city's underworld to earn money, while also rekindling a romance with his childhood love, Yuli, and trying to maintain his friendship with Martin. He must balance his desire for freedom with his loyalty to those he cares about.

Time: 8:30pm

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Date: April 3-10, 2025

Location:
DGA New York Theater, w 10019, 110 W 57th St, New York, NY 10019
Quad Cinema, 34 West 13th Street, New York, NY 10011

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