The director of Hello Hemingway, Madagascar, Life is to Whistle and Suite Havana, among other films, won the Colon de Plata to the best art direction in the Festival Iberoamericano held in Huelva, Spain, with Jose Marti: The Canary's Eye, his most recent feature film.

Alfredo Guevara, president of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema has announced that no less than 515 full- and medium-feature films, documentaries and animations are to be screened in Havana from December 2 through 12, and "although quantity is not always synonymous with quality, it speaks volumes for the diversity that we are seeking and which is dependent on every country’s annual production, not on the Festival."

An Afternoon in Havana – Piano Music from Cuba
Eralys Fernández, 2010

This is a delightful CD of Cuban piano music played and produced at the Guildhall Music School in London by the exceptionally gifted young Cuban pianist Eralys Fernández.

AfroCubism
Womad festival legend has it that the most exiting music was always played backstage as the various musicians met over a drink and shared their ideas and styles with each other. This album takes this idea to its extreme in that World Circuit has finally united some of the greatest musicians in the world for a session exploring the best of both traditions.

Santiago Antunez, trainer of Olympic champion and world record holder in the 110 metre hurdles Dayron Robles, was selected as the world best 2010 trainer by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

This Canadian website is a favourite with salsa and timba fans – it posts clips from current Cuban TV and radio of Cuban bands and solo artists, updated regularly with new clips. Focuses on salsa, timba, casino and rueda dance music produced on the island, with English notes.

Calling all fans of Cuban culture: From salsa to hip hop, son to reggaeton, charanga to Afro-Cuban jazz, rumba to country music, check out www.cubaconnect.co.uk for the biggest range of Cuban music CDs and DVDs, old and new. Tender boleros, hot dance tracks and the latest funky and experimental sounds. Plus books – fiction & poetry, films – classic Cuban cinema and recent documentaries, coffee straight from the mountains of Cuba and many other Cuba-related products.

The stylish full length animation feature film by two directors Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal and Tono Errando, is due to go on national release from 19 November.

Composer, orchestra director and performer Leo Brouwer, and pianist Chucho Valdes, both from Cuba, won Latin Grammy 2010 awards in a ceremony last week in the U.S. city of Los Angeles, California.

To enter competition to win one of 2 pairs of tickets to see Chucho Valdés & The Afro-Cuban Messengers + Ibrahim Maalouf at the Barbican, London, 18 November 2010 please send an email to office@cuba50.org with your full name and telephone number, and with 'Chucho Valdes – tickets competition' in the subject line.

As stories of musicians' ill fortune go, it ranks not far from Leonard Cohen having to tour because his business manager stole $5m of his savings. In 1996, the Malians Bassekou Kouyate and Djelimady Tounkara were invited by World Circuit Records' Nick Gold to Havana to record with a handful of Cuban singers and musicians. Depending who you talk to, lost passports, visa issues or better-paid gigs elsewhere ensured the Malian musicians never made it to Cuba.

The last time the American Ballet Theatre performed in Cuba, Fidel Castro had been in power for barely a year and relations between Washington and Havana were yet to turn sour.

The Jose Marti Brigade of Art Instructors was founded 20 October 2004, when they began their work throughout the country. As in other provinces, instructors in the central province of Villa Clara work to provide children with the fundamental background to develop their artistic skills and help them become artists.

These art instructors spread their knowledge all over the country, even in the most hard-to-reach places. Here in Manicaragua, these young art providers have become an essential part of community life, prioritizing art no matter the hindrances they may come across along their way.

From www.soycubano.com October 20 was established in Cuba as ‘'Day of Cuban Culture'', honoring the memorable October 20, 1868, when the mambí troops under the leadership of Carlos Manuel de Cespedes set free Bayamo city and people sang for the first time our National Hymn, La Bayamesa.
The Cuban National Hymn history can be traced around August 13, 1867, when the Bayamo's Revolutionay Committee met at the lawyer Pedro Perucho Figueredo's house, to elaborate the plans necessary to unchain the Cuban independentist movement. There, Figueredo was encouraged to compose ‘'Our Marsellesa''. At very early hours of that August 14, this Bayamo-born revolutionary was writing the melody that later became our National Hymn. It was called La Bayamesa as expression of its revolutionary character, revering also the place serving as cradle for the national rebellion. (*)

Cairo, Oct. 21 (Prensa Latina) The book "Arabs in Cuba" by researcher Rigoberto Menendez provides a new reason for Latin Americans in Egypt to defend their common identity, based on the influence of immigrants from the Middle East.

A perennial curiosity for looking into the roots of their national identity, culture, and history brought together the audience at the Cervantes Institute in Cairo for the launching of Menendez' book, which many praised as a masterly.