Havana International Film Festival pays tribute to Juan Padrón

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 8 (ACN) The 45th International Festival of New Latin American Cinema of Havana (FINCL), which opened its doors on December 5 in this city, pays homage to the Cuban cartoonist, comic strip artist and screenwriter Juan Padron (1947-2020) with the presentation of producer Aramís Acosta’s book De historietas y animaciones: la vida de Juan Padrón (On cartoons and animated stories: the life of Juan Padrón) in honor of the creator of the Cuban character Elpidio Valdés.

FINCL director Tania Delgado referred to the occasion as “a well-deserved tribute to an endearing creator whose name is a credit to the Latin American and Caribbean Animation Forum, included in the Festival’s program for the second year”.

Scheduled to be held on December 9 to 12, the event will present some 15 selected projects from Brazil, Cuba, Argentina, El Salvador, Mexico, Colombia and Panama, as well as two short animated film starring the character Elpidio Valdés, namely Una aventura de Elpidio Valdés (An adventure of Elpidio Valdés) and Elpidio Valdés contra el tren military (Elpidio Valdés vs the artillery train), restored jointly by the Cuban Film Institute and the Colombian Film Heritage Foundation.

Juan Padrón, who also made highly praised full-length and short animated movies such as Vampiros en La Habana, Quinoscopio and Filminuto, won the 2004 National Humor Award and the 2008 National Film Award.