HFFNY 2025: Fenomenos Naturales

Here we are again covering the Havana Film Festival. We covered it for the first time and now we get to run it back this year. We had the opportunity to witness the opening night ceremony and see the New York Premiere of Fenomenos Naturales (Natural Phenomena in English) directed by Reinier Diaz who also acted as lead along with Andrea Doimeadios as a couple living in a isolated ranch during 1980s Cuba trying to make their dreams come true until a natural phenomenon sweeps Vilma(Doimeadios) and changes course. Since this is the New York premiere we expected a list of heavy hitters on the red carpet(of course we captured them) and Midtown Manhattan was decorated to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the film festival. The festivities was in the Director's Guild Theater on 57th Street and once inside we saw the proclamation from the mayor that made Havana Film Festival Week official. The deputy commissioner for the film office handing the proclamation over to the co founders and from there the ceremony started and then the film.

The film is a fiction drama with a fantasy twist. Even though the film is inspired by the director's parents marriage story there was enough fantasy to keep the audience in engaged. Vilma is a nurse who wants to be a champion shooter after a cow from her farm was slaughtered by a train. Her husband Ivan(Diaz) is a construction worker who fell at his job and can not use his hands. From there we find out that Vilma is pregnant and wants to go to the ministry but can't because of her practice. Meanwhile Ivan stays at home trying to become a farmer and inventor despite his disability. When Vilma meets a famous general's son and help her doctors at the army base is where her dreams starts and once she leaves she tries every way to obtain that dream even if means to have a abortion. The acting by Diaz and Doimeadios are great and we looked fantastic in their interactions as the movie time warps. The dialogue between them fits the film well too. The supporting cast definitely held up their end with some of their performances. Mario Guerra as Herrera and Maikel Reyes as Tatiana stole scenes with their presence and Garcel (played by Armando Miguel Gomez) should be considered for any supporting actor award because he was too good and cunning as the son of a famous general. We felt that this film made sense to be the opening film because of the intertwined stories of dreams, reality and competition.

Overall we look forward to be covering this year's film festival and will keep everyone updated on here on our social media links. Hopefullly you check out the entire festival from April 4th to April 10th 2025 only now all screenings will be at the Quad Cinema on West 13th Street in Manhattan. For more information go to the HFFNY website: www,hffny.com