Biography
He studied in the United States but in the mid-1940s returned to Cuba, where he worked as a music archivist in a television station and participated in Communist Party activities. After the Cuban Revolution he became a founding member of the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC) and directed its weekly Latin American Newsreel.
One of his most famous works, the short Now (1964) about racial discrimination in the US, mixed news photographs and musical clips featuring singer/actress Lena Horne. Other well-known works included the anti-imperialist satire LBJ (1968) and 79 Springs (1969), a poetic tribute to Ho Chi Minh. In 1968, he collaborated with Octavio Getino and Fernando E. Solanas (members of Grupo Cine Liberación) on the four-hour documentary Hora de los hornos, about foreign imperialism in South America.
Among the other subjects he explored in his films were the musical and cultural scene in Latin America and the dictatorships which gripped the region.
The second chapter of French director Jean-Luc Godard's Histoire(s) du cinéma is dedicated to Álvarez, amongst others.
He died of Parkinson's disease in Havana on May 20, 1998 and was buried there in the Colon Cemetery.
Filmography
all 42
Movies 42
Director 33
self 2
Producer 2
Memória Cubana (2010)
Accelerated Under-Development: In the Idiom of Santiago Alvarez (1999)
Historia de una Plaza (1989)
Brascuba (1987)
Coarse Salt (1984)
Biografía de un carnaval (1983)
The Necessary War (1980)
My Brother, Fidel (1977)
El octubre de todos (1977)
Morir por la patria es vivir (1976)
Luanda ya no es de San Pablo (1976)
Maputo meridiano novo (1976)
The First Delegate (1975)
April in Vietnam in the Year of the Cat (1975)
The Tiger Leaps and Kills, But It Will Die... It Will Die... (1973)
And Heaven Was Taken by Storm (1973)
I Am a Son of America (1972)
¿Cómo, por qué y para qué se asesina un general? (1971)
Piedra sobre piedra (1970)
The Servant's Dream (1970)
79 Springs (1969)
Take-Off at 18:00 Hours (1969)
Hanoi, Tuesday 13th (1969)
Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano No. 466: Celebration of the VI Amateur World Series in the Dominican Republic. Cuba-USA Final. (1969)
Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano, No. 422 (1968)
LBJ (1968)
The Forgotten War (1967)
Hasta la Victoria Siempre (1967)
Cerro Pelado (1966)
Abril de Girón (1966)
Año 7 (Noticiero No. 290) (1966)
Solidaridad Cuba y Vietnam (1965)
Now! (1965)
Cyclone (1964)
Muerte al invasor (1962)
Crisis en el Caribe (1962)
Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano (1960)
Carnival (1960)
El Tomate (1959)
Towards Unity and Victory (1937)
Los Ojos de Santiago
El camino de Santiago: Periodismo, cine y revolución
Ratings
Information
Known ForDirecting
GenderMale
Birthday1919-03-18
Deathday1998-05-20 (79 years old)
Birth PlaceHavana, Cuba
CitizenshipsCuba
This article uses material from Wikipedia.
Santiago Álvarez- Filmography
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