Santiago Álvarez

Santiago Álvarez

Born: March 18, 1919
Died: May 20, 1998
in Havana, Cuba
He studied in the United States but in the mid-1940s returned to Cuba, where he worked as a music archivist in a television station and participated in Communist Party activities.[1] After the Cuban Revolution he became a founding member of the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC) and directed its weekly Latin American Newsreel.[2]

One of his most famous works, the short Now (1964) about racial discrimination in the US, mixed news photographs and musical clips featuring singer/actress Lena Horne. Other well-known works included the anti-imperialist satire LBJ (1968) and 79 Springs (1969), a poetic tribute to Ho Chi Minh. In 1968, he collaborated with Octavio Getino and Fernando E. Solanas (members of Grupo Cine Liberación) on the four-hour documentary Hora de los hornos, about foreign imperialism in South America.

Among the other subjects he explored in his films were the musical and cultural scene in Latin America and the dictatorships which gripped the region.

The second chapter of French director Jean-Luc Godard's Histoire(s) du cinéma is dedicated to Álvarez, amongst others.[3]

He died of Parkinson's disease in Havana on May 20, 1998 and was buried there in the Colon Cemetery.

Movies for Santiago Álvarez...

Memória Cubana
Title: Memória Cubana
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: September 27, 2010
Type: Movie
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 general direction of Santiago Álvarez, these moviemakers witnessed almost everything: from the shivers of the Cold War to Bola de Nieve's piano solos; from the discovery of the killing fields in Cambodia to the Carnation Revolution in Portugal. In 2009, the original negatives of Noticieros ICAIC Latinoamericanos were declared part of the "world memory" by UNESCO.
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Accelerated Under-Development: In the Idiom of Santiago Alvarez
Title: Accelerated Under-Development: In the Idiom of Santiago Alvarez
Character: Himself
Released: January 1, 1999
Type: Movie
A portrait of the great radical Cuban film maker Santiago Alvarez.
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Coarse Salt
Title: Coarse Salt
Character: Horacio
Released: February 6, 1984
Type: Movie
A famous composer creative in crisis and must compose a new album, but is going through a painful separation that prevents him from concentrating. In this situation, your manager will provide a time extension
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Towards Unity and Victory
Title: Towards Unity and Victory
Released: January 24, 1937
Type: Movie
Political propaganda film made during the Spanish Civil War.
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El camino de Santiago: Periodismo, cine y revolución
Title: El camino de Santiago: Periodismo, cine y revolución
Character: Santiago Alvarez
Released: December 31, 1969
Type: Movie
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Los Ojos de Santiago
Title: Los Ojos de Santiago
Released: December 31, 1969
Type: Movie
Los Ojos de Santiago retraces the filmmaking career of Álvarez, particularly his work in Vietnam and Cuba.