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The Cuban regime will hold the twentieth edition of the International Festival of Poor Cinema in Gibara from July 14 to 18 in the coastal city north of Holguín, while the province suffers from the most severe energy crisis in the country and a significant portion of the population faces hunger and shortages.
The contest, now in its twentieth edition, was postponed from its usual April date to July due to the complex energy and fuel situation currently facing Cuba.
The film Neurotic Anonymous, directed by Jorge Perugorría and starring Mirtha Ibarra, will open the event as a tribute to Perugorría himself, who chaired the festival for five years.
The film, filmed in August 2024 in Havana, is based on the namesake play written by Ibarra and tells the story of a woman who fights to prevent the demolition of a declining Havana cinema.
Rafael Grillo, a member of the Organizing Committee, acknowledged that the turnout did not reach the numbers of previous editions, though he defended the quality of the selections: "Despite the current difficulties and the postponement of the event to July, this year's program maintains the quality and diversity that distinguish the festival."
To cope with the blackouts, the organization implemented a system of its own batteries and outdoor projections on three screens distributed throughout the city. The large regular concerts will not be part of this edition.
The contrast between the festival and the reality in Holguín is striking. The province operates with barely 70 MW against a demand of between 225 and 240 MW —less than 30% of the needed capacity—, with power outages exceeding 50 consecutive hours and only three hours of electricity per cycle.
Nationally, the situation is no less serious. 33.9% of Cuban households reported that at least one person went to bed hungry in the last 30 days, according to the survey "In Cuba There Is Hunger 2025." 97.6% of the population indicates structural shortages, and only 18.3% receive potable water daily.
The film schedule includes competitions for feature films, short films, documentaries, and animations. In the fiction category, the Kyrgyz film Mergen by Chinguiz Narinov competes alongside productions from Iran, India, Morocco, Mexico, and Venezuela, as well as two Cuban films. The documentary section features the national titles Padilla, Mijaín, and Mario Rivas: a lucky artist, among others.
Grillo acknowledged that the event may not reach the same level in all aspects as previous editions, but he defended its essence: "Although in other aspects of the traditional multicultural festival of Gibara, the 2026 edition may not match the quality of past editions due to current conditions, the fundamental reason for this gathering, which is its film programming, remains on par with what has been achieved in recent years."
The festival was founded in 2003 by filmmaker Humberto Solás as a space for independent, diverse, and alternative cinema, based on the premise that a small budget does not equate to a lack of ideas or artistic quality.
For many Cubans, however, it is difficult to ignore that the regime allocates resources to a cultural event while the population faces hunger, blackouts, and extreme shortages amidst what could be the worst GDP decline in decades.
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