Santiago álvarez


Director

About

Birth Place
Cuba
Born
March 18, 1919
Died
May 20, 1998
Cause of Death
Complications From Parkinson's Disease

Biography

As a young man, Santiago Alvarez studied in the USA and worked there at menial jobs. After his return to Cuba in the mid-1940s, he worked as a music archivist in a TV station and participated in the activities of the Cuban communist party and "Nuestro Tiempo," a political-cultural society.With no formal training as a filmmaker, Alvarez made his first documentaries at the age of 40, in th...

Biography

As a young man, Santiago Alvarez studied in the USA and worked there at menial jobs. After his return to Cuba in the mid-1940s, he worked as a music archivist in a TV station and participated in the activities of the Cuban communist party and "Nuestro Tiempo," a political-cultural society.

With no formal training as a filmmaker, Alvarez made his first documentaries at the age of 40, in the wake of the Revolution. He was a founding member of ICAIC, the Cuban film institute established in 1959.

Though he has directed one fiction feature and headed ICAIC's Latin American Newsreel division, Alvarez's reputation is as a brilliant and innovative documentary filmmaker. His highly partisan political themes, such as anti-imperialism and support for Fidel Castro and the Revolution, are expressed in an eclectic style that draws on creative improvisation. In his famous anti-imperialist satire, "LBJ" (1968), and other documentary shorts produced in the 1960s, the filmmaker employed a "nervous montage" approach that stressed a skillful use of sound and creative editing techniques to tie together a fast-paced collage of disparate "found" materials such as cartoons, still photos, and clips from Hollywood movies.

Among the best known of Alvarez's documentary features are "79 primaveras" (1969), a poetic tribute to Ho Chi Minh; and "De America soy hijo...y a ella me debo" (1972) and "Y el cielo fue tomado por asalto" (1973), which both chronicle Castro's international tours.

Filmography

 

Director (Feature Film)

Gracias, Santiago (1984)
Director
Las Campanas También Puedan Doblar Mañana (1983)
Director
Biografia de un carnaval (1983)
Director
Los Refugiados de la cueva del muerto (1983)
Director
Operacion Abril del Caribe (1982)
Director
Nova sinfonia (1982)
Director
A Galope sobre la historia (1982)
Director
La Importancia universal del hueco (1981)
Director
Tiempo libre a La Roca (1981)
Director
Comenzo a retumbar el Momotombo (1981)
Director
26 es También 19 (1981)
Director
La Guerra necessaria (1980)
Director
El Gran salto al vacio (1979)
Director
Tengo fe en ti (1979)
Director
Y la noche se hizo arcoiris (1978)
Director
Mi Hermano Fidel (1977)
Director
El Octubre de todos (1977)
Director
Maputo: Meridiano novo (1976)
Director
Los Dragones de Ha-Long (1976)
Director
Luanda ya no es de San Pablo (1976)
Director
Morir por la patria es vivir (1976)
Director
El Sol no se puede tapar con un dedo (1976)
Director
El Tiempo es el viento (1976)
Director
Abril de Vietnam en al ano del gato (1975)
Director
El Primer Delgado (1975)
Director
60 minutos con el primer mundial de boxeo amateur (1974)
Director
Los Cuatro puentes (1974)
Director
Y el cielo fue tomado por asalto (1973)
Director
El Tigre salto y mato, pero morira... morira (1973)
Director
De American so hijo... y a ella me debo (1972)
Director
La Estampida (1971)
Director
Como, por que y para que se asesina un general? (1971)
Director
El Pajaro del faro (1971)
Director

Writer (Feature Film)

Los Refugiados de la cueva del muerto (1983)
Screenwriter

Director (Short)

Forjadores de la paz (1962)
Director
Escambray (1961)
Director

Life Events

1933

Radio broadcaster

1934

Left high school (date approximate)

1942

Returned to Cuba after speending several years studying in the USA; joined Communist party (date approximate)

1959

Co-founded (with Tomas Gutierrez Alea) and made newsreel department head of the Instituto Cubano del Arte y Industria Cinematograficos (ICAIC)

1961

Co-directed first documentary, "Escambray; Muerte al invasor"

Bibliography