The event, opened on February 19 at the Cinema Museum of the Russian capital, screened some 20 films from Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela, Guatemala, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile and Ecuador.

¡Viva Cuba!, by film directors Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti and Iraida Malberti Cabrera, tells the story of two friends, Malu and Jorgito, who promised themselves eternal friendship in spite of the mutual hatred felt by their families.

According to Nauma Kleiman, director of the Cinema Museum, "The success of the First Festival of Contemporary Latin American Film in Moscow has surpassed all expectations" and all tickets sold out in each of the screenings.

Therefore, its foreseen it may become a tradition from now on and be held not only in Moscow, but in other cities of Russia.

Besides the winning film, others that won big applauses too were "María Escobar", Galia Giménez (Paraguay); "El silencio de Neto", by Luis Argueta (Guatemala) and "Suite Habana", by Fernando Pérez (Cuba), informed Russias official news agency Itar-Tass.

Most of the screened films have been shot in the last decade and many of them have been seen for the first time in Russia on the big screen now.

"It is good cinema, films that have won the highest laurels and awards at diverse festivals", said at the beginning of the festival one of the organizers, Alexei Chernishov, from the Latin American Institute of the Science Academy of Russia.

According to Chernishov, the Festival is "interesting as much for Spanish students as for Latin American cinema and culture lovers, because it allows to show the national particularities" of the different participating countries.

(www.cubasi.cu)