Cuban film posters: treasures of the nation and the world

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 12 (ACN) Who doesn't remember the movie Strawberry and Chocolate characters Diego and David hugging each other, their hands in black and white immortalized in an image that has traveled the world? Or Lucia every time we see three beautiful Cuban women in a popular art painting?

Those and other art pieces identify the epic of Cuban cinema of all times, the reason that UNESCO included them on its Memory of the World list in May this year and has just granted Cuba the diploma certifying the said decision during the 44th International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, currently under way in Havana.

Anne Lemaistre, director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, remarked that these works stand because of their formal beauty, visual impact, communicational effectiveness, and contribution to the education of Cuban audiences.

Established in 1995 given the loss of the world's documentary heritage to wars, natural disasters and technological obsolescence, the Memory of the World Programme has 494 documents, stocks and collections from all over the world, including the José Martí Foundation, the Negatives of Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano, the Life and Work of Ernesto Guevara collection—from the original manuscripts of his adolescence and youth to the Campaign Diary in Bolivia—and the Chapter Acts of the Havana City Hall during the colonial period (1550- 1898).