Havana - About eight restored classic films of the region''s cinema will be screened during the 39th edition of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, scheduled from December 8 to 17, the program of the event announced today.

Films from Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Cuba, and Colombia appear within this section. All of them have important aesthetic values, have been endorsed by critics and applauded by the public, the Festival's president, Ivan Giroud, said at a news conference.

The Restored Classics poster announces 'Sur' (The South), an Argentine film by Fernando Ezequiel; 'Tres triste tigres' (Three Sad Tigers), by Chilean director Raul Ruiz; and Colombian film 'Rodrigo D. no futuro' (Rodrigo D. No Future), by Victor Gaviria.

Cuban films 'Lucia', by Humberto Solas, and 'Se permuta' (House Swapping), by Juan Carlos Tabio; and Mexican movies 'Canoa' and 'Los motivos de la luz' (Luz' Motive), both by Felipe Cazals, are also on the list.

Seeing these restored films is the possibility of discovering new elements, making new readings, in addition to putting them within the reach of the new generations, who do not know them, Giroud said.

Those films date from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and were subjected to different processes to recover their original splendor after the passage of time, and adapt them to the new technologies available in the screening halls today.

The Festival will be based in 10 movie theaters of Havana, where more than 400 films from the region and other parts of the world will be screened.