HAVANA, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming Havana International of the New Latin American Cinema 2017 will not be "affected" by the recent U.S. travel and trade measures against Cuba, said the event's director Ivan Giroud on Monday.

Giroud told a news conference that the recent U.S. restrictions, partly on Americans' visits to Cuba, were imposed with "clear political intentions," but the film festival will not be affected as U.S. guests and films were invited months in advance.

"We have told our U.S. special guests to be aware of the new measures, but our festival will not be affected by them. We will have a large presence of directors, actors and producers. The interest in the festival has really not diminished," he said.

The festival to be held on Dec. 8-17 will present 404 films, documentaries, short films and animations. Over 300 of them are from Latin America, in order to promote the region's film industry.

"We have a very compact program in this year's festival with the most relevant and contemporary Latin American and international films," Giroud added.

The countries most represented in the event are Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, the United States and Cuba, while 34 percent of the competing films were directed by women.

For the opening gala, the festival will present an award of honor to Brazilian filmmaker Carlos Dieguez and screen his latest movie "The film of my life."

This year's film festival "is to strengthen the quality of the Havana festival and to face the 40th anniversary next year with changes and new proposals," Giroud said.

The Havana International Festival of New Latin American Cinema was created to encourage and spread cinematographic works that contribute to the enrichment and development of the Latin American and Caribbean culture.