1.1323060-993365751
FILE - In this Dec. 7, 2004 file photo, Colombia's writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, right, speaks with fans at the inauguration of the 26th Havana Film Festival in Havana, Cuba. Cuba is dedicating the 2014 Havana Film Festival to the late Nobel Prize-winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez who was a longtime friend of former leader Fidel Castro and also a major backer of Cuba’s marquee international cinema bash. Havana's film festival takes place each December. Garcia Marquez died on April 17, 2014 in Mexico City. (AP Photo/Jose Goitia, File) Image Credit: AP

Cuba is dedicating this year’s Havana Film Festival to the late Nobel Prize-winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Garcia Marquez was a longtime friend of former leader Fidel Castro and also a major backer of Cuba’s marquee international cinema bash.

Festival official Ivan Giroud says Garcia Marquez’s widow and children had been told of the decision to honour the Colombian writer affectionately known as “Gabo”.

Cuban state news agency Prensa Latina reported the announcement on Tuesday.

Garcia Marquez died last week in Mexico City.

Havana’s film festival takes place each December.