On December 15, the International Film and Television School, located in
the municipality of San Antonio de los Baños, in Mayabeque province, will
celebrate the 25th anniversary of its creation as a source of creators of
New Latin American and Caribbean Cinema.
 
During its inaugural ceremony Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz
presented Nobel Prize in Literatura Gabriel Garcia Marquez with the bronce
emblem that symbolized the birth of this institution, which was later on
passed to Argentinean Fernando Birri.
 
During the closing ceremony of the 33rd International Festival of Latin
American Cinema in Havana, the jury presented with an honor prize the
International Film and Television School, which has graduated more than
730 professionals that have contributed to the recongnition of this
institute with many distinctions worldwide.
 
The current director of the school, Rafael Rosales, noted: “I believe this
is the best film school in the world though it migh sound pretentious, but
it is also a school of life that offers solid training to its students
from the humanitarian, technical, and ethical points of view”.
 
The creation of this school was a dream come true for the Latin American
Committee of Film-makers that belongs to the Foundation of New Latin
American Cinema chaired by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
 
This year’s Havana’s International Film Festival organized a special
program of films by students of the International Film and Television
School, which illustrates the thematic and stylistic diversity taught there.
 
In the opinion of Spanish Benito Zambrazo, graduated from the first
promotion of the school, students there are always talking about cinema
and that helps establishing special bonds among them.
 
Five years ago, while recalling the ceremony of inauguration of the
school, Garcia Marquez commented: “We talked as much as today about the
kind of cinema that had to be done in Latin America and how to do it; we
were inspired in Italian surrealism with scarce resources but the most
humane ever done”.
 
During the inauguration ceremony of the school Fidel stated: “This school
will last as long as the Revolution. And the revolution is eternal!”