1. By Crystal Keenan

2. History
 Cinema didn’t arrive to Cuba until the 20th
century
 Cuba fell into the “Golden age” of film post-
revolution
 Cinema was first introduced in Havana on
January 24, 1897 by Gabriel Veyre from Mexico
 A little less than a decade before WWI, Latin
America was switching from dependency on
Europe to the US
 An emphasis was put on the cinema business
in Hollywood and Cuba became a part of it
beginning with melodramatic* films and
historical reviews: “El Capitán Mambí” and
“Libertadores o Guerrillos” (1914) by Enríque
Díaz Quesada
* The theatrical genre of melodrama uses theme-music
to manipulate the spectator's emotional response and
to denote character types

3. Pre-revolution
 Only had about 80 full-length films pre-
revolution such as: La Virgen de la
Caridad (1959) starring Miguel Santos
and Romance del Palmar by Ramón Peón
 The Silent-film era lasted up until 1937 in
Cuba
 Many directors (like Enríque Díaz
Quesada) directed films that imitated
the Chaplin films from France
 Only a few directors from the US or
Europe did any work in Cuba
 Most of the Cuban Actors/ Actresses Ramón
would become famous in Argentina and Peón & his
films
Mexico

4. Post-revolution
 Most of the post-revolutionary film had “anti-
imperialism and revolution” content
 1959 the gov. created the Culture division of
the Rebel Army which was in charge of
creating documentaries
 The Cuban’s recognized film as “…the most
direct and widespread vehicle for education Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
and bringing ideas to the public”
 The Instituto Cubano del Arte y la Industria
Cinematográficos (IAIC) was a copy of the
former Cultural Division
 The 1st 10 years were known as the “Golden age”
 The directors Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and
Humberto Solás are thought of as the best 2
directors from Cuba
 Some of the most famous films from Cuba are:
Lucía (1969) by Solás and Memorias del
subdesarrollo (1968) by Gutiérrez Alea
Humberto Solás

5. Cuban Film Festivals
 Cuba has 1 famous film festival called
“the Festival of New Latin-American
Cinema of La Havana” or the “Festival
Internacional del Nuevo Cine
Latinoamericano de La Habana”
 It began December 3, 1979 and has been
hosted in December ever since
 The Festival features only films produced
in Spanish
 The Categories consist of :
 Films
 Documentaries
 Animation
 First Work
 Direction
 Cinematography
 Etc.

6. Sources
 “Cuban film” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 10
Aug. 2004.
 “Melodrama” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 10
Aug. 2004.