LA HABANA: 500 AÑOS Screening & Talk

Havana, Cuba is preparing to celebrate the 500th anniversary of its founding on November 16, 1519. This 40-minute film, which highlights the efforts to restore Havana’s historical colonial architecture, includes interviews with:

• Eusebio Leal Spengler, Historian of the City of Havana
• Michael Gonzàlez, director of Cultural Heritage for the City of Havana
• Félix Julia Alfonso Lopéz, Director of San Geronimo College, where preservationists are trained
• other residents of Havana—taxi drivers, artists, musicians, translators—recalling memories of Old Havana in past years and its transformation since being declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982
• and many recent photographs and videos of Havana.

The filmmaker, Cathryn Griffith, also produced the book Havana Revisited: An Architectural Heritage, published by W. W. Norton. Copies of the book will be available at the screening.