🎶 Music & The Blockade - Vintage Cuban Short Films
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Five rarely screened shorts from Cuba's revolutionary archives. One programme.
After the Revolution: Part 2 — Music & the Blockade closes this year's festival with a journey through the sounds and struggles of 1960s Cuba.
The programme:
Mario Gallo's Al compás de Cuba (1960) — an immersion in Afro-Cuban music. Rumba, son, Santería drumming, and the music of the Abakuá secret society. Gallo travelled to Cuba specifically to document the music he felt was being "sweetened and perverted" by US filters. A striking piece of musical ethnography.
Sara Gómez's Iré a Santiago (1964) — a portrait of Santiago de Cuba. Gómez was Cuba's first woman filmmaker and its only Black woman filmmaker during her lifetime. Her film is a love letter to Black Cuban culture, filmed five years after the revolution. "Mulato is a state of mind," she wrote. Energetic. Playful. Direct cinema.
Tomás Gutiérrez Alea's Asamblea General (1960) — documenting the start of the US blockade. Alea is Cuba's greatest filmmaker, the man behind Memories of Underdevelopment and Strawberry and Chocolate. This is one of his earliest works, a document of the moment Cuba's isolation from its own continent began.
Octavio Cortázar's Sobre un Primer Combate (1971) — revisiting the catastrophic explosion of La Coubre in Havana Harbour, March 1960. A French freighter carrying weapons for the rebel army exploded, killing over 100 people. Fidel Castro publicly blamed the CIA and popularised the rallying cry "Patria o Muerte" (Homeland or Death) at the mass funeral.
Santiago Álvarez's Hasta la Victoria Siempre (1967) — the closing film. Made in 48 hours after Che Guevara's death, at the direct request of Fidel Castro. A tribute to Che's final campaign in Bolivia, his work with indigenous communities, and his commitment to revolutionary struggle. One of Cuba's most celebrated short films.
Saturday 25 July, 4pm, New Theatre, Temple Bar.
Tickets €10. All proceeds to mediCuba-Europe. 🇨🇺
After the Revolution: Part 2 — Music & the Blockade closes this year's festival with a journey through the sounds and struggles of 1960s Cuba.
The programme:
Mario Gallo's Al compás de Cuba (1960) — an immersion in Afro-Cuban music. Rumba, son, Santería drumming, and the music of the Abakuá secret society. Gallo travelled to Cuba specifically to document the music he felt was being "sweetened and perverted" by US filters. A striking piece of musical ethnography.
Sara Gómez's Iré a Santiago (1964) — a portrait of Santiago de Cuba. Gómez was Cuba's first woman filmmaker and its only Black woman filmmaker during her lifetime. Her film is a love letter to Black Cuban culture, filmed five years after the revolution. "Mulato is a state of mind," she wrote. Energetic. Playful. Direct cinema.
Tomás Gutiérrez Alea's Asamblea General (1960) — documenting the start of the US blockade. Alea is Cuba's greatest filmmaker, the man behind Memories of Underdevelopment and Strawberry and Chocolate. This is one of his earliest works, a document of the moment Cuba's isolation from its own continent began.
Octavio Cortázar's Sobre un Primer Combate (1971) — revisiting the catastrophic explosion of La Coubre in Havana Harbour, March 1960. A French freighter carrying weapons for the rebel army exploded, killing over 100 people. Fidel Castro publicly blamed the CIA and popularised the rallying cry "Patria o Muerte" (Homeland or Death) at the mass funeral.
Santiago Álvarez's Hasta la Victoria Siempre (1967) — the closing film. Made in 48 hours after Che Guevara's death, at the direct request of Fidel Castro. A tribute to Che's final campaign in Bolivia, his work with indigenous communities, and his commitment to revolutionary struggle. One of Cuba's most celebrated short films.
Saturday 25 July, 4pm, New Theatre, Temple Bar.
Tickets €10. All proceeds to mediCuba-Europe. 🇨🇺
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Where is it happening?
The New Theatre, 43 Essex St E, Dublin, Dublin, Ireland D2, Ireland
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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Host or PublisherDublin Cuban Film Festival
