The Havana Film Festival, and Johnny Depp at the BIFF

Apologies for being late with this: the Havana Film Festival is currently taking place. The Festival–The International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, to give it its full, proper title–began on December 3rd, and runs until the 10th in Havana, Cuba. It focuses on new feature, documentary and animated films from the Caribbean and Latin America, films “whose significance and artistic values contribute to enrich and reaffirm the Latin American and Caribbean cultural identity.” The festival also includes a world cinema showcase, and various seminars and initiatives on cinema.

In other film festival news, the Bahamas International Film Festival, which gets going in five days’ time, has announced that its 2009 Career Achievement Award will go to Jack Sparrow aka Edward Scissorhands aka Sweeney Todd aka Willy Wonka aka Johnny Depp. Festival patron Sean Connery will present the award. We recommend Depp place the gong in that space on his mantel he’s reserved for his Oscar.