26th Havana Film Festival New York Reveals 19 Films Competing for Havana Star Prize

Havana Film Festival New York (HFFNY) has revealed the 19 films competing for the Havana Star Prize at the upcoming 26th edition, set to take place May 1–7, 2026.

In total, the festival will present more than 30 films from across Latin America, the Caribbean, and Latino communities in the United States.

HFFNY opens May 1 with the New York Premiere of It Would Be Night in Caracas (Aún es de Noche en Caracas), the political thriller directed by Mariana Rondón (Pelo Malo) and Marité Ugás (El Chico que Miente), and closes with My Cuban Dream (Mi sueño cubano), Christian Dehugo’s documentary on the legacy of the Lizt Alfonso Dance Company.

“In this year’s program, the Havana Film Festival New York seeks not only to present some of the most relevant and award-winning films, but also to open spaces for dialogue. Programs such as “Cinema of Belonging: Jewish Stories from Latin America” bring together works by filmmakers of Jewish heritage from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, and from Latino-Jewish communities in the United States, reflecting on identity, memory, and belonging. Likewise, “Her Lense, Her Story”, proposes an urgent conversation about the feminine—what defines us, challenges us, and also harms us, through women directors and women’s stories,” said Diana Vargas, Artistic Director, HFFNY

Honoring artists who redefine identity through sound and movement, the program includes a special homage to Manuel Antín with a screening of newly restored Circe (1964), based on a short story by Julio Cortázar.

Winners of the 26th edition will be announced that evening during the Closing Night Ceremony, May 7.

The jury for this year’s festival brings together a distinguished group of professionals from journalism, academia, and filmmaking. In the Fiction category: Breixo Viejo, Assistant Professor of Film Studies at Hofstra University and co-editor of Luis Buñuel: A Life in Letters; Margaret Frohlich, writer and Associate Professor at Dickinson College, specializing in Spanish and Latin American film and literature; and Rafi Mercado, acclaimed Puerto Rican filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist with over three decades of experience. In the Documentary category: Ana María Hernández, professor and director of Latin American Studies and Spanish Translation at LaGuardia Community College/CUNY; Felipe Aguilera, award-winning journalist with over 15 years of experience in television, print, and the public sector; and Álvaro Baquero Pacino, Ph.D. in Literature and Cultural Studies from Georgetown University, specializing in contemporary Peninsular and Latin American literature, film studies, immigration, violence, crime fiction, and trauma narratives.

FICTION COMPETITION

ADIOS AL AMIGO
Ivan Gaona | Colombia | Fiction | 2025 | 118 min

AÚN ES DE NOCHE EN CARACAS / IT WOULD BE NIGHT IN CARACAS
Marité Ugás, Mariana Rondon | Venezuela, Mexico | 2025 | Fiction | 97 min

BAJO EL MISMO SOL / UNDER THE SAME SUN
Ulises Porra | Dom. Republic, Spain | Fiction | 2025 | 103 min

BELÉN
Dolores Fonzi | Argentina | Fiction | 2025 | 105 min

EL REGRESADO / HE WHO RETURNS
Armando Capó | Cuba, Colombia | Fiction | 2025 | 100 min

HAVANA COYOTES
Benjamin Orifici | USA, Cuba | Fiction | 2025 | 74min

HIEDRA / THE IVY
Cristina Barragan | Ecuador, Mexico, France, Spain | Fiction | 2025 | 99 min

LA HIJA CONDOR / THE CONDOR DAUGHTER
Álvaro Olmos Torrico | Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay | Fiction | 2025 | 109 min

LA MISTERIOSA MIRADA DEL FLAMENCO/ THE MYSTERIOUS GAZE OF THE FLAMINGO
Diego Céspedes | Chile, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium | Fiction | 2025 | 104 min

NEUROTICA ANONIMA
Jorge Perugorria | Cuba, Mexico | FIction | 2025

NOVIEMBRE
Tomás Corredor | Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Norway | 2025 | Fiction | 78 min

UM LOBO ENTRE OS CISNES / A WOLF AMONG SWANS
Marcos Schechtman, Helena Varvaki | Brazil | Fiction | 2025 | 112 min

UN CABO SUELTO / A LOOSE END
Daniel Hendler | Uruguay, Argentina, España | Fiction | 2025 | 95 min

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

EL PANTERA
Frank Benitez | Colombia | Documentary | 2025 |78 min

PARA VIVIR: EL IMPLACABLE TIEMPO DE PABLO MILANÉS / PARA VIVIR: THE IMPLACABLE TIMES OF PABLO MILANÉS
Fabien Pisani | México-Spain-U.S.A. | Documentary | 2025 | 106 min

TORAH TROPICAL
Jimmy Ferguson, Ezra Axelrod, Gloria Nancy Monsalve | Colombia | Documentary | 2024 | 100 min

IMPRINTED
Martina Casas | US | Documentary | 2026 | 79 min

EL EXILIO DE LOS MÚSICOS / THE EXILE OF MUSICIANS
Ivan Cherjovsky | Argentina | Documentary | 2024 |70 min

VIDAS EN LA ORILLA
Lucia Gajá | Mexico | Documentary | 2025 | 107 min