Santiago Álvarez

Historia de una Plaza (1989)

Brascuba (1987)

Biografía de un carnaval (1983)

Short documentary recounting the history of the Santiago de Cuba carnival. ...

The Necessary War (1980)

Alvarez' longest documentary examination of the Cuban Revolution, this contains exceptional interviews with Fidel, Raúl, Almeida, Vilma, Haydee, Celia and Faustino Perez, among other key players in the Revolution. ...

My Brother, Fidel (1977)

Follows the Cuban leader into the home of a 93 year old acquaintance of Jose Marti, who is now blind and who takes the duration of the film to realize who his illustrious interviewer actually is. ...

El octubre de todos (1977)

To Die for Your Country Is to Live Forever (1976)

With a speech by Fidel Castro as the central theme, the effects of the terrorist attacks against the interests of the Cubana de Aviacion company are revealed, and Mozambique's independence is celebrated. ...

Luanda ya no es de San Pablo (1976)

Portrait of the Angolan people. ...

The First Delegate (1975)

The short film El primer delegado (The First Delegate), made by a group of ICAIC directors, recounts the moments in which José Martí announced the foundations and statutes of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, the tireless struggle that the hero sustained th ...

April in Vietnam in the Year of the Cat (1975)

Documentary film on the end of the Vietnam War, the fall of Saigon and the departure of American troops, as well as a tracing of 4000 years of Vietnamese culture. ...

The Four Bridges (1974)

Filmed in Cuba, a documentary about communism in Cuba ...

The New Tango (1973)

The New Tango (El Nuevo Tango) was not shown in Argentina for a long time as it deals with the ascent of Argentinean president Hector Campora in May 1973, and features Cuban and Chilean presidents, Osvaldo Dorticos and Salvador Allende. A million people g ...

La hora de los cerdos (1973)

Short film by Santiago Alvarez ...

The Tiger Leaps and Kills, But It Will Die... It Will Die... (1973)

An obituary for Victor Jara, the Chilean folksinger who was murdered in a football stadium by the military junta during the days of the September 1973 coup. ...

And Heaven Was Taken by Storm (1973)

A chronicle of Fidel Castro's two-month tour of ten East European and African nations in mid-1972. ...

I Am a Son of America (1972)

Recollections of Fidel Castro's visit to Chile on November, 1971, and of the historical imperialist exploitation of Latin America. ...

The Stampede (1971)

Political satire on the defeat suffered by the North American and Saigon forces in the south of Laos in February 1971. ...

¿Cómo, por qué y para qué se asesina un general? (1971)

Documentary short about the death of Chilean general René Schneider by the CIA, following the election of Salvador Allende as president of the nation. ...

Piedra sobre piedra (1970)

Documentary about the earthquake that devastated the Yungai area on May 31, 1970, which killed more than 40,000 Peruvians. ...

The Servant's Dream (1970)

An ordinary man goes to work in a rich household of Peru and has a dream in which he sees his boss and himself appearing as equal in front of the Archangel before going to heaven... ...

79 Springs (1969)

This film memorializes the leader of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, on the occasion of his death. It narrates the story of a life which is also the story of a nation-recounting his important accomplishments in the struggle against colonialism and imperialism. ...

Take-Off at 18:00 Hours (1969)

This film confronts the failures of the Cuban economy, although it is made in a Guevara-like spirit of moral exhortation rather than criticism. ...

Hanoi, Tuesday 13th (1969)

In December 1967, a Cuban film crew led by Santiago Alvarez, the veteran polemicist, travelled to Hanoi. They shot the footage which constitutes this short documentary all in one day - Tuesday 13. The film is the story of that day and what happened to the ...

Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano No. 466: Celebration of the VI Amateur World Series in the Dominican Republic. Cuba-USA Final. (1969)

¡Yankis, Go Home! ...

Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano, No. 422 (1968)

In September 1968, Fidel Castro comments on the suppression of the Prague Spring in surprisingly critical terms. He opens his thunderous speech with the statement that it could endanger Cuba's safety. Although Santiago Álvarez was the guest of honour at t ...

LBJ (1968)

This is a montage of different images from the JFK, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy triumphs and assassinations, all three events being observed by Lyndon Johnson as the dark figure who is plotting the anti-black rights movement. ...

Hasta la Victoria Siempre (1967)

Created within forty-eight hours of Che Guevara's death, Hasta la Victoria Siempre is a Cuban documentary tribute that combines archival footage, speeches, and images of revolutionary struggle to commemorate Guevara and reaffirm the ideals of the Cuban Rev ...

The Forgotten War (1967)

Focuses on the history of foreign intervention in Laos, first by France and then by the United States. It shows how the liberation forces of Laos, under continuous U.S. bombing, were able to run an entire society in hidden caves and tunnels. Through the le ...

Cerro Pelado (1966)

A ship of athletes training on the rough seas becomes a symbol of Castro's Cuba, the games projected on the backdrop of political struggle. This is the story of a ship and of a sports delegation whom the enemy tried to stop from participating in the Tenth ...

Abril de Girón (1966)

Now! (1965)

Using morgue photos, newsreel footage, and a recording by Lena Horne, Cuban filmmaker Santiago Alvarez fired off 'Now!', one of the most powerful bursts of propaganda rendered in the 1960s. ...

Solidaridad Cuba y Vietnam (1965)

Short documentary on the solidarity of the Cuban people with Vietnam during the war against the United States. ...

Cyclone (1964)

CICLÓN is a coverage of hurricane Flora's sweeping the Cuban provinces of Camagüey and Oriente in October 1963: the damage, the evacuation of the villages, and the aid to victims. ...

Muerte al invasor (1962)

Produced by ICAIC in the wake of the Bay of Pigs invasion, "Muerte al invasor" chronicles the three days of fighting at Playa Girón, portraying the rapid mobilization of Cuban forces and civilians against a CIA-backed exile army. ...

Crisis en el Caribe (Noticiero ICAIC) (1962)

Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano (1960)

Documenting news all over Latin America. ...

Carnival (1960)

The 1960 Havana Carnival is presented in a romantic story. ...

El Tomate (1959)

An educational documentary film about planting and harvesting tomatoes. ...

El camino de Santiago: Periodismo, cine y revolución (2013)

A tribute to Santiago Álvarez, a great innovator in the language of Cuban newsreel images, presented by the ICAIC over the course of thirty years. This unique figure in Latin American cinema is reconstructed. Told as a game of Chinese boxes (documentaries ...

Memória Cubana (2010)

Through the files of Cuban cinema news program Noticieros ICAIC Latinoamericanos, the documentary shows the most relevant events of the second half of the 20th century as seen by the documentary filmmakers of the island. During three decades and under the ...

Rocha Que Voa (2002)

Documentary about the relationship between filmmaker Glauber Rocha and Cuba. ...

Coarse Salt (1984)

A famous composer creative in crisis and must compose a new album, but is going through a painful separation that prevents him from concentrating. ...

Claves, 4: Memories of Cuban cinema (1984)

Documentary in four parts on Latin American cinema. Fourth episode: in Cuba, the ICAIC, created in the aftermath of the Castro revolution, is at once a film school, a production company and a state cultural branch. Cuban filmmakers testify to the situation ...

Towards Unity and Victory (1937)

Political propaganda film made during the Spanish Civil War. ...