The 21st International “Cine Pobre” (Low-Budget Cinema) Festival in Gibara—scheduled to take place from April 13th to 17th, 2027. It has issued a call for submissions from filmmakers worldwide, open until January 5th. A key new feature is the return of the “Factoría del Cine Pobre” (Low-Budget Cinema Factory). An initiative designed to support creators from eastern Cuba.
Sergio Benvenuto Solás, the festival director and president of the organizing committee, explained in an exclusive statement to the CNA that the “Factory” will return as a long-term support structure. Providing the operations and resources necessary to assist projects throughout their entire lifecycle. Rather than just during the pitching phase in Gibara.
Now in its third edition, the “Factory” serves as an essential support mechanism for creators from the eastern provinces and Camagüey. It arrives bolstered by a preparatory. In-depth workshop scheduled for November 14–18th in San Pablo de Yao, in the province of Granma which precedes the main event.
Benvenuto Solás noted that the experience of 2024 and 2025 demonstrated the presence of talent and significant creative capacity in this region of the country. While also revealing a gap in access to training, production guidance, and spaces for project development.
For this reason, the initiative is design to function as a true territorial laboratory. Encompassing six core areas of work: training; the development of scripts and project portfolios. Mentorship; production; preparation for securing funding and co-productions; and ongoing support through to the completion of the final work.
Moreover he point out that this proposal was conceive specifically to address such inequality. Today, this responsibility must shared among Cuban cultural institutions, the event itself, independent producers, and increasingly international partners and funding bodies.
He maintained that the concept—rooted in the principles established by Humberto Solás—envisions “Cine Pobre” (Low-Budget Cinema) not merely as a philosophy of production with limited resources, but as a concrete tool. It is intended to enable the emergence of films, producers, and new voices from the eastern region of the country. With a genuine potential to reach the rest of Cuba and the wider world.
Competition categories include feature-length fiction films, short fiction films, feature-length documentaries, short documentaries, as well as animation and experimental audiovisual works.
The “Lucía” Awards—the festival’s top honors—along with other collateral distinctions. It will be present by a jury composed of national and international figures from the fields of cinema, audiovisual media, and the arts; their decisions will be final.
The Cuban Ministry of Culture, the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), and the local governments of Holguin and Gibara—the permanent host city. Also known as the “White Village of the Crabs” —invite submissions to the festival.
As in the previous edition, open-air screening venues will be set up throughout the city. Integrated with various multicultural spaces and forums for theoretical discussion. It noted that the experience of that event, characterized by energy self-sufficiency and outdoor screenings provided valuable lessons. Consequently, for any similar scenario, a full range of backup options using alternative energy sources is planned.
Through this gathering, the festival commemorates the 2003 launch of the “Poor Cinema” Manifesto by Cuban filmmaker Humberto Solás. A call for unconstrained creativity and the democratization of cinematic expression.
With information from CNA
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