Havana Film Festival starts

CUBA , December 4, 2007.-  The 29th edition of Havana 's International Festival of New Latin American Cinema begins on Tuesday evening with the screening of 'Redacted', by renowned US filmmaker Brian de Palma, which denounces the US war in Iraq .

The film, which won the Silver Lion Award in the category of Best Direction in the most recent edition of the Film Festival of Venece, is based on actual events: the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl by US soldiers.

According to critics, with this movie De Palma comes back to his personal style of making political movies and not of making 'politically correct movies' for the industry and the US movie academy, as he himself has stated.

The inaugutarion of the Havana Film Festival takes place on Tuesday night at the Karl Marx Theater in the Cuban capital and participants will also enjoy a concert by renowned Argentinean singer-song writer Fito Paez.

Nearly 500 movies and documentaries will be screened in 23 movie theaters in Havana until next December 14th as part of this festival, which on this occasion also pays tribute to the 40th anniversary of the Film Festival of Viña del Mar. (Cubaminrex-RHC)