Cinema Reborn: Cuban Cinema of the 1960s

In 1959, Cuban reality changed radically with the triumph of the Revolution, and one of the consequences was the birth of a new cinema. It would be a new kind of cinema, transcending both the formulaic escapism of the Hollywood genre movie and the bourgeois individualism of the Western European art film, in which documentary played a central role both on its own account and through its influence on fiction. In this illustrated introduction to a selection of films made between 1960 and 1972, Michael Chanan considers their experimental, artistic and revolutionary nature. As Cuba’s hard-pressed revolution is poised for change, this is not an excuse for nostalgia but the rediscovery of a remarkable body of innovatory films with attitude.