Second edition of Isla Verde: An impulse towards sustainability and culture in the Caribbean

From April 21 to 27, the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud will host the second edition of Isla Verde, Caribbean International Film and Environment Festival. The event, chaired by the renowned actor, director and plastic artist Jorge Perugorría, is a creative space that seeks to promote actions in pursuit of turning this small island into a regional benchmark for transformation based on sustainable local development, and as a cultural, tourist and environmental destination.

On this occasion, the official selection in competition – resulting from the scrutiny of almost a hundred works presented – is made up of 30 audiovisual works, representing 15 countries. It is the first time that the Festival acquires a competitive nature, after an initial edition that offered a wide sample of films contributed by the Good Planet Foundation, the International Film and Environment Festival of Mexico “Cinema Planeta” and the international association Green Film Network, a network that brings together more than 30 environmental events in the world.

According to Jorge Perugorría, recently named 2024 National Film Award winner, the selection committee chose 10 feature films and 20 short films to participate in the competition. Both competitions will have a jury made up of prestigious figures of the national and international seventh art, as well as environmental researchers and scientists.

During the event, the Isla Verde awards will be presented, which recognize and celebrate personalities or projects dedicated to the conservation, study and protection of the environment on our planet. “We will present a posthumous award to Daniel Diez, founder of Televisión Serrana. He left us in December of last year, and we had just talked to him about being part of our Festival and the jury. We also want to project a sample of the work of Televisión Serrana over so many years, as a recognition of all that work, which is an example of a social, collective, community project that has trained so many filmmakers,” Perugorría added.

Another of the figures honored will be the Colombian doctor Diana Ruiz Pino, oceanographer and climatologist; pioneer in the study of the evolution of CO2 and ocean acidification, related to the environmental impact on marine ecosystems. Member of the group of international experts who, in 2007, won the Nobel Peace Prize for their research and studies related to climate change. Ruiz Pino will actively participate in talks and conferences planned in the Isla Verde program. “For us it is an honor to receive her and to be able to present her with this award,” declared the president.

On this occasion, the event has the fundamental support of the European Union (EU) and its Member States, and with UNESCO as implementing partner of the Transcultura program, financed by the EU. The Festival shares elementary objectives with these organizations, according to the projection that the environmental educational program “Isla Verde” has maintained since its creation, a local development project that hosts this film festival. Among the lines of common work, the promotion of creative industries stands out, especially cinema, as a bridge for awareness and cultural dialogue.

Environmental education is a priority for the Festival. “Our dream of doing this project is because we believe that the Isla de la Juventud can become an example of conservation in the Caribbean. For this reason, we seek to have an impact on children, adolescents and young people, which is where the future lies,” Perugorría commented.

Isla Verde, with the collaboration of the European Union and its Member States, and together with the Antonio Núñez Jiménez Foundation, is committed to young people as defenders of their natural environments, entrepreneurs and generators of new opportunities. Along these lines, talks, workshops and screenings will take place accompanied by filmmakers and specialists in environmental issues, aimed at primary, secondary, pre-university and higher education students.

Among the actions organized as part of the event’s environmental program are beach cleaning, work in school gardens and planting trees to mitigate the carbon footprint generated by the Festival. The measurement of waste and its impact is a work that has been carried out since the first edition of the Festival, with the close collaboration of the Mexican Eleonora Isunza, director of Cinema Planeta.

The planting of 3,000 pine trees planned for this occasion will be part of an agreement with Spanish cinema, through the guest and president of the feature film jury, Álvaro Longoria. “In Spain they also have this initiative, which is called the Cinema Forest (…). For this reason, we are going to sign an agreement for the creation of the Pinar del Cine on the isla de la Juventud,” highlighted Jorge Perugorría.

Isla Verde also joins the celebrations for the 65th anniversary of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC, in spanish) with a special screening of the documentary «Ciclón», directed by the renowned Cuban filmmaker Santiago Álvarez (1919-1998). On the other hand, a group of students from the International School of Film and Television of San Antonio de los Baños will participate for the second time in workshops, conferences and exchanges with students from various levels of education.

As part of the collateral program of activities, more than 20 relevant plastic artists will also join to the Festival, representing different generations. The contemporary art exhibition “De la Isla a la luna”, by the La Sindical collective, will be on display at the Municipal Museum, and then at the Isla de la Juventud Model Prison, an old prison built in the 1920s. which in 1967 was converted into a museum.

The closing of the Festival will take place at the Presidio Modelo itself, with a concert by Cuban musicians Polito Ibáñez, David Torrens and Kelvis Ochoa. According to the president of Isla Verde, it is also interesting to give visibility to this heritage jewel of the architecture of the Isle of Youth.

The Caribbean International Film and Environment Festival is organized by Galería Taller Gorría, the Antonio Núñez Jiménez Foundation for Nature and Man; and the Four Wives production company.

Source: Isla Verde Festival