A viewer who attended the Charles Chaplin cinema in Havana on Friday to watch a film from the 27th French Film Festival found a theater without air conditioning, almost empty seats, and a screening that started an hour late due to a projector failure, according to a report by Darío Hernández published by 14ymedio.
The affected screening was "Playing with Fire" (2026), directed by Delphine and Muriel Coulin, scheduled for 2:00 PM on Friday, October 24.
At 2:22 PM, the movie had still not started. A staff member informed those present that there was a problem with the projector and that the team was working to resolve it.
Half an hour later, the patience of the attendees was wearing thin, and several chose to leave before the show began.
When the movie finally started, nearly an hour later than scheduled, the audience that remained in the theater had dwindled to about thirty people. The heat, with no air conditioning, had made the wait even more uncomfortable.
The viewer who shared her experience with the media ended up leaving the cinema without seeing any of the scheduled films: the wasted time and the challenge of finding transportation to get home led her to give up.
The cinema 23 y 12, the main venue of the Cinemateca de Cuba, was also not an option that day: according to 14ymedio, the projector was broken, causing it to be unavailable for the festival's programming. The outlet did not specify how long the malfunction had lasted or whether it was repaired afterwards.
The incident at the Chaplin is not an isolated event. Film festivals in Havana have been facing deteriorating equipment, power outages, and transportation difficulties for years. In December 2024, the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema had screenings canceled due to power cuts, and in December 2025, the organization had to install generators and mobile screens to support the projections.
The decline of Cuba's cinematic infrastructure is structural: nearly 80% of the approximately 398 cinemas that existed in the country have closed in recent decades. In October 2026, the demolition of the historic Capitolio cinema in Havana was also reported.
The contrast with the official inauguration of the festival is striking. On Thursday, October 22, the Yara cinema hosted the opening of the 27th edition with the attendance of French ambassador Raphaël Trannoy, ICAIC president Alexis Triana, and Cinemateca director Luciano Castillo, in a ceremony that brought together diplomats and cultural officials around the film The Resistance Kids, by Christophe Barratier.
After the screenings this weekend at Chaplin and Yara, the exhibition will continue solely at Yara starting Monday, October 27, and will run until November 4, featuring a total of 17 films on the schedule.
As noted in the 14ymedio report, "the audience's enthusiasm fades when they have to deal with the most basic issues of watching a movie."
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