As it does every year, the event seeks to boost the development of the discipline across Latin America and the Caribbean; animators from the region have until the 15th of this month to submit proposals for participation.

The forum is scheduled to take place from December 7 to 10 at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, the official venue of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema (FINCL).

This gathering is part of the Industry Sector of the 47th FINCL—taking place in the capital from December 3 to 13—and includes courses, workshops, mentoring sessions, and business meetings aimed at refining proposals, according to the Cuban News Agency (ACN).

The forum, for which the call for entries opened on August 20, is organized in collaboration with Animados ICAIC (Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry) and the La Manigua Cultural Center.

It is organized by filmmakers Ernesto Padron (Cuba), Paola Becco (Argentina), and Cesar Cabral (Brazil), ACN added.

The event pays tribute to the life and work of Cuban filmmaker Juan Padron (1947–2020), creator of the animated character Elpidio Valdes and director of Vampiros en La Habana (1984), a film that won the festival’s Coral Award.

A graduate in Art History from the University of Havana, Padron worked as a caricaturist, illustrator, comic book artist, screenwriter, and film director. His most beloved character, the mambi Elpidio Valdes, is a symbol of Cuban identity.

Padron received the Alejo Carpentier Medal (1988), the Felix Varela Order (2001), the National Humor Award (2004), and the National Film Award (2008), as well as eight Coral Awards from the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, among other honors.

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