Cuban Cinema Midterm

What is ICAIC?

The Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry. Founded on March 24, 1959, shortly after the revolution. Its first president was Alfredo Guevara. It became the state-run body controlling all aspects of film production, distribution, and exhibition in Cuba.

What was the "Words to the Intellectuals" speech and why was it important?

A speech given by Fidel Castro in June 1961 at the National Library. It followed the censorship of the film PM. The key quote is: "Within the Revolution, everything; against the Revolution, nothing." It defined the official cultural policy, stating that artistic freedom was only permitted if it served the revolutionary cause.

What was the PM Affair?

The 1961 experimental short film PM (by Orlando Jiménez Leal & Saba Cabrera Infante), which depicted Havana nightlife, was broadcast and then confiscated and banned by ICAIC. This act of censorship directly triggered the "Words to the Intellectuals" speeches and the subsequent shutdown of the magazine Lunes de Revolución.

What was Lunes de Revolución?

A hugely popular cultural magazine launched on March 23, 1959, by Carlos Franqui and Guillermo Cabrera Infante. It was shut down by the government in November 1961 as a result of the PM affair.

What was the Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano?

The ICAIC's Latin American Newsreel. It ran weekly from June 6, 1960, until July 19, 1990 (1,490 editions). Directed by Santiago Álvarez, it was known for its rapid montage, bold graphics, and integration of popular music. It served as a major cultural and political resource for non-aligned countries.

What was the "Cineclub de La Habana" and why was it significant?

Founded in 1948 by Ricardo Vigón and Germán Puig. It screened films from the Cinémathèque française and MoMA. Key future filmmakers like Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Néstor Almendros, and Tomás Gutiérrez Alea were members, making it a crucial incubator for Cuban cinema.

What was "Nuestro Tiempo"?

A socialist cultural society founded in 1951. Its film division was co-directed by Alfredo Guevara and Julio García Espinosa, forming a key group of filmmakers before the revolution.

Tomás Gutiérrez Alea

(1928-1996) One of Cuba's most important and influential directors. Key films: Stories of the Revolution (1960), The Twelve Chairs (1962), Memories of Underdevelopment (1968), Strawberry and Chocolate (1993). Also co-directed the seminal pre-revolutionary documentary El Mégano (1955).

Julio García Espinosa

A key filmmaker and theorist. Co-directed the seminal pre-revolutionary documentary El Mégano (1955) with Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and co-directed the film division of "Nuestro Tiempo" with Alfredo Guevara.

Alfredo Guevara

(1925-2013) The first president of ICAIC. A central figure in organizing and leading Cuban cinema after the 1959 revolution.

Santiago Álvarez

(1919-1998) Master documentary filmmaker and the driving creative force behind the Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano. Known for films like Now! (1965).

Humberto Solás

(1941-2008) Acclaimed Cuban director known for his epic, historical films. Most famous work is Lucía (1968).

Mikhail Kalatozov

(1903-1973) Soviet director. Known for The Cranes Are Flying (1957) and the Soviet-Cuban co-production I Am Cuba (1964).

Guillermo Cabrera Infante

(1929-2005) Writer and co-editor of Lunes de Revolución. His brother, Saba Cabrera Infante, co-directed the controversial film PM.

Enrique Díaz Quesada

A pioneering Cuban filmmaker of the silent era. Directed early newsreels and patriotic melodramas like El Capitán Mambí (1914) that helped build a sense of "Cubanidad."

Ramón Peón

A major filmmaker in the Cuban silent period, directing 12 features in the 1920s. Later directed early sound musicals like Sucedió en La Habana.

El Mégano (The Dune, 1955)

Directed by Julio García Espinosa & Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. A landmark documentary about the miserable working conditions of coal miners in the Zapata Swamp. A key work of pre-revolutionary independent cinema.

Memories of Underdevelopment (1968)

Directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. A seminal film that explores the intellectual and moral confusion of a bourgeois writer who stays in Cuba after the revolution. It is a classic of Latin American cinema.

Lucía (1968)

Directed by Humberto Solás. An epic film that tells three stories of women named Lucía from three different periods of Cuban history (1895, 1932, 1960s).

I Am Cuba (Soy Cuba, 1964)

Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov. A Soviet-Cuban co-production (Mosfilm/ICAIC) known for its breathtaking, innovative cinematography by Sergei Urusevsky. It was initially repressed in the USSR during Brezhnev's "Era of Stagnation."

The Twelve Chairs (1962)

Directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. A comedy that analyzes the nationalization of private property in revolutionary Cuba.

What was the state of Cuban cinema in the Pre-Revolutionary Era (1897-1959)?

Characterized by foreign domination (especially by Hollywood after WWI), instability, and a lack of a national studio system. Cuban production was very low, averaging only 9 films per year (only 2 of which were fiction). The independent film movement began to emerge in the 1950s.

What were the three main trends in Pre-Revolutionary Cuban Cinema?

1. Foreign Domination: Hollywood controlled 95% of the market.

2. National Commercial Cinema: Small, unstable production of imitative films (musicals, comedies, radio adaptations).

3. Independent Cinema: Politically engaged films by groups like "Nuestro Tiempo" (e.g., El Mégano).

What was the "Revolutionary Era" (1959-1962)?

The immediate period after the 1959 Revolution. Key events: ICAIC is founded (March 24, 1959), Lunes de Revolución is launched and later shut down, the Noticiero ICAIC begins, the Bay of Pigs invasion occurs (1961), and the PM affair and "Words to the Intellectuals" speech define cultural policy.

What was the Soviet "Thaw"?

The period from 1956-1964 under Nikita Khrushchev. It involved de-Stalinization and allowed for more artistic freedom in Soviet cinema, leading to "revisionist war films" like The Cranes Are Flying.

What was Brezhnev's "Era of Stagnation"?

The period from the mid-1960s to the 1970s. It marked a return to state control and the repression of artistic experimentalism, known as "Poetic Cinema." Films like I Am Cuba (1964) were shelved.

What is "National Cinema" according to Andrew Higson?

It is a "hegemonising, mythologising process" that tries to assign a stable set of meanings and a unique identity to a country's films. It is also a "strategy of cultural (and economic) resistance" against Hollywood's domination.

What is an "Imagined Community" according to Benedict Anderson?

A nation is an "imagined political community" that is both inherently limited and sovereign. It is imagined because members will never know most of their fellow members, yet feel a sense of communion.

What is "Crisis Historiography" according to Rick Altman?

An approach that challenges the idea of a single, stable history for a technology. It argues that new technologies are born in a "crisis of identity" and are socially constructed in an ongoing and multiple process, rather than having a single "birth."

What are the key frameworks for studying Cuban Cinema mentioned in the course?
Answer:

1. National Cinemas

2. Crisis & Postcolonial Historiography

3. Third Cinema & Imperfect Cinema

4. Cine de Estado (State Cinema)

What was the name of the first film ever made in Cuba, and who made it?

Simulacro de un incendio (Fire Drill, 1897) by Gabriel Veyre, a Lumière operator. (From Week 2)

What was the name of the massive movie theater that opened in Havana in 1949?

The Blanquita theater, with 6,750 seats and the most advanced projection system in Latin America. (From Week 2)

Who were the "Foreign Filmmakers" that came to Cuba in the early 1960s? (Name at least two)

oris Ivens (Cuba: Pueblo en armas), Chris Marker (Cuba sí), Agnes Varda (Salut les Cubains), Theodor Christensen (Ella). (From Week 4)

What are the three main "modes" or styles of documentary identified under ICAIC?

1. Noticiero (Newsreel), 2. Agit-Prop (Agitation Propaganda), 3. Poetic. (From Week 4)

What are the two sides of the Soviet film institution Goskino, according to the slides?

• Answer:

  • Negative: Censorship, punishment of experimentalism, favoritism, bureaucracy.

  • Positive: A major multinational powerhouse, generous subsidies, free high-quality education, opportunities for women, international festival promotion. (From Week 5)

What is the name of the key Soviet cinematographer who worked on I Am Cub

Sergei Urusevsky. (From Week 5)