The 14th Havana Film Festival New York opens this Friday at the Quad Cinema

Just a quick note -- as I have not seen any of the films on display at this annual festival -- that anyone who loves Latin American cinema should take a look at the entire program being offered by the upcoming Havana Film Festival New York, 14th edition, which opens this Friday, April 12, at Manhattan's Quad Cinema, and continues through April 19.

This is an extensive series, lasting a full eight days and filled with feature-length and short films, both narrative and documentary, that offer some star personalities both in front of and behind the camera. These include Jorge Perugorría, at right, star of the wonderful Strawberry and Chocolate and other films, here acting as director of the festival's opening night selection, Amor Cronico (below), a documentary that follows the famous New York singer Cucu Diamantes on her tour around Cuba. Closing night will see the popular Paraguayan thriller 7 Cajas screen to what I expect will be an entranced crowd.

In between those two films will appear an enormous number of short and feature-length movies, so click here to take a look at the entire selection. There's got to be something that will call out to you (probably a number of them!) so go slowly and take in every last description.

You can read about the history and mission of the HFFNY here, see the various venues here (for parties and the like; I believe most of the screenings take place at the Quad), and get all information on tickets, including group sales and festival passes by clicking here.