Among the Cuban artists internationally recognized is filmmaker and actor Jorge Perugorria (Strawberry and Chocolate-1993), winner of the 2024 National Film Award, who created in Cuba one of the festivals that is most faithful to the natural environment, the Isla Verde (Green Island) Film Festival.

The event is held on Isla de la Juventud (Isle of Youth), in the south of the Cuban archipelago, more specifically, in the western zone, and was created by Perugorria with the aim of making an ecological film, drawing attention on the importance of taking care of nature and each of the ecosystems formed by it.

For this Cuban actor, director, painter and ecologist, the EU factor -as he called the cooperation from the European Union- has been essential when undertaking and maintaining the project.

Perrugorría is grateful, since the first edition of the event in 2023, for the support from the European Union and its Member States, UNESCO and its Transcultura project.

The participation of each of these organizations was decisive to hold the second edition of the Isla Verde Festival, he said in April, at the opening ceremony that was part of the Month of Europe in Cuba.

Perugorria insisted on the benefits from Isla de la Juventud, with 60 diving spots in its shallow and clear waters, migratory bird watching, hiking, a natural reserve (Punta Frances Natural Park) and now those involved are turning their attention to large extensions, formerly citrus plantations, now wastelands, where sustainable agriculture projects can be developed, he noted.

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