Frank Pierson at the Havana Film Festival

HAVANA TIMES, Dec. 4 — The screenwriter and former director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , gave a talk today at the Hotel Nacional in Havana, the traditional host of the Havana Film Festival.

Pierson worked on the scripts for Cool Hand Luke and Dog Day Afternoon, both Academy Awards nominees, with the latter one also winning an Oscar. Among his notable films are A Star Is Born, which also received several nominations for the coveted statuette; Truman and Soldier’s Girl.

On Sunday, the film festival included a conference on “The Future of Cinema,” led by Herve Fischer, and a workshop titled “The Character in the Set, Methods and Perspectives in the Work of Directing Actors in the Audiovisual Area.”