Filmographies - films at UST by Country: Cuba

Two co-workers take their wives for a weekend getaway that turns into a web of manipulation, deception, and infidelity. Faced with emptiness and a lack of answers for many problems, sometimes it seems like the only escape is to take refuge in sexual instincts. Instincts that drive to keep oneself alive, to manipulate others, and to reaffirm an existence lacerated by loneliness. But the result is fleeting, and the attempt has unpredictable consequences.

Set in 1914 Havana. After the death of her father, a wealthy former slave trader, Amada now lives in her villa with her husband Dionisio and her blind mother. She is unhappy in her marriage and Dionisio is frequently unfaithful, so when she meets her younger cousin Marcial, a young revolutionary, passions are stirred within her. However, only in her dreams, could she dare to run away with him.

Juan Quin Quin, a farmer, lives on his wits in pre-revolutionary Cuba as a circus performer, bull-fighter, coffee planter, even playing the part of Christ in a traveling theatre company. Then he joins the Revolution.

Magalis is a nurse who has repeatedly been receiving romantic advances from Ignacio, an older man who works in a lumberyard. One day, Ignacio is injured while on the job, and he's taken to the hospital, where to his delight and her annoyance Magalis is assigned to look after him. Meanwhile, El Chino is a truck driver who is in love with Vivian, who works in a drugstore. However, Vivian and Chino's happy relationship turns to grief when she suffers a miscarriage.

A look at the life of Reinaldo Arenas, from childhood in Cuba to his death in New York City. His writings and homosexuality get him in trouble with Castro's Cuba and he spends two years in prison before leaving for the United States.

Set amidst 1830s Havana and the Cuban independence movement. Cecilia is the beautiful, proud and unusually light-skinned daughter of a poor native tailor and his wife. Brought up by her mother and grandmother as a courtesan in wealthy white society, Cecilia meets Leonardo Gamboa, the son of a slave owner and master of a vast estate who falls in love with her. Taking advantage of the situation, Cecilia agrees to his demands on condition that Leonardo hides a badly wounded member of the rebellion at his home.

This biopic film presents Che Guevara, the young Latin American idealist and revolutionary who fought for the poor and oppressed in the 1950s-60s. The film specifically focuses on Che's fearless life as he helped lead a bloody socialist revolt that would be known around the world.

Part 1: On November 26, 1956, Fidel Castro sails to Cuba with eighty rebels. One of those rebels is Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, an Argentine doctor who shares a common goal with Fidel Castro - to overthrow the corrupt dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. Part 2: After the Cuban Revolution, Ernesto 'Che' Guevara is at the height of his fame and power. Then he disappears, re-emerging incognito in Bolivia, where he organizes a small group of Cuban comrades and Bolivian recruits to start the great Latin American Revolution. The story of the Bolivian campaign is a tale of tenacity, sacrifice, idealism, and guerrilla warfare that ultimately fails, bringing Che to his death.

Portrays the personal story of a group of young Cuban revolutionaries in Havana against Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship during the period 1956-1958. Based on real events from the early days of the revolution.

Three young sisters leave Cuba in search for a better life in Spain. Once in Madrid, they move in with their aunt who owns a sweatshop that makes fur coats. Since they lack work permits, their aunt plans to marry them off to suit her own interests. But a friend of their aunt's decides to protect the girls from these manipulations. That is until the friend and one of the sisters ends up falling in love with the same man.

Cuba has always been known for its enchanting, mystical vibes. A New Yorker, Lazaro Acosta, and a San Franciscan, Zoe Rosenberg, find out first hand how enchanting the island can be. A devotee of ancient religion of Ifa, known to many as "Santaria", Lazaro makes a promise to his fiancee and the river Goddess Oshun, that he won't stray with other women while studying music in Cuba. In Havana, He becomes infatuated with his Godfather's granddaughter and gets caught in Oshun's web of honey. Lazaro learns the hardway that Oshun may be a river spirit, but she tests with fire. Zoe travels to Havana on a political solidarity brigade, and falls in love with Renato, a Reggae singer and street hustler who lives off the kindness of foreigners. Renato's desire almost drives him into a little raft in a desperate attempt to float to Florida. Ultimately, Zoe and Ronato prove that love knows no boundaries.

Manuel returns from 15 years in Cuba to his native Haiti in this melodrama. With the help of a divining rod, he finds a water source for the drought-stricken area. Manuel reveals his discovery to Anaisa, the pretty local girl he has a crush on, and he proposes an end to long-standing family feuds in exchange for revealing the location of the water. Anaisa's cousin Gervelin mortally stabs Manuel, and the dying man begs his mother to keep the details of his death a secret so that peace can be maintained.

A socio-economic analysis of slavery and class struggle throughout the Americas. It offers a critical analysis of the novel, showing how the author's social background led to his use of particular dramatic structures to convey his liberal, humanitarian viewpoint.

A socio-economic analysis of slavery and class struggle throughout the Americas. It offers a critical analysis of the novel, showing how the author's social background led to his use of particular dramatic structures to convey his liberal, humanitarian viewpoint.

With the help of two new friends, a young man learns everything there is to know about things not taught in school.

Focuses on the disintegration of a young peasant's morality once he joins the revolutionary forces of Castro's Cuba. The naive peasant was expecting adventure but before his stint in the military has ended, whether he wants to be fully aware of it or not, he is a trained killer. When he falls in love with a chorus girl in Havana, Guaguasi turns to drugs and alcohol. His decline accelerates, putting both his lover and his friends at the mercy of his slipping hold on stability.

In this romantic comedy, Yoyita, a world-famous diva, returns to her home town of Guantanamo for an elegant reception and a surprise reunion with her once beloved, Candido. Overjoyed with the rekindled memories of her first love, Yoyita's elated heart fizzles while in Candido's embrace. Joining Yoyita's funeral procession back to Havana are her sexy niece Gina, a former professor blacklisted for political nonconformity, and her husband Adolfo, a tasteless government official in charge of the funeral proceedings. As the cortege wends westward across Cuba, its path keeps crossing that of Mariano, a gallant truck driver who once had a crush on Gina and whose recurring presence crystallizes her doubts about her marriage.

Inventos: Hip Hop Cubano provides unique insights into the Hip-Hop scene in Cuba and the reality of contemporary Cuban politics. The film follows the innovators of this musical movement to their homes, the stage, and as they travel abroad for the first time. Inventos embodies the true spirit of Hip Hop, which is to create something powerful and useful out of what is seemingly impossible. Cuban Hip Hop demonstrates the creative and indestructible spirit of the island and its people despite the hardships of the U.S. embargo on Cuba.

When Havana begins to fill up with zombies, Juan, a 40-year-old slacker, is forced to become a hero, defend his country and protect his own on an island that has turned into a real bloodbath.

Set in Havana at the end of the 18th century, a guilt-ridden count invites twelve of his plantation slaves to a "last supper" during which he attempts to teach them what he sees as the crucial elements of Christianity, namely, submissive obedience to their master and joy in suffering. When the count breaks his word, however, and forces the slaves to work the next day (Good Friday), they revolt and the count's punishment is swift and brutal.

A rundown bus station in rural Cuba becomes the backdrop for romance and miracles in Juan Carlos Tabio's blend of magical realism and social commentary.

A story based around Laura, an university professor who studies the famous Cuban pimp Alberto Yarini Ponce de León, who controlled the business of prostitution in Havana of the early twentieth century. Her studies lead her into the present day underworld in Havana, with its dichotomy between bravado and shame.

Traces episodes in the lives of three Cuban women, each named Lucía, from three different historical periods: the Cuban war of independence (with Spain), the early-1930's, and the 1960's.

Set in the region of Maluala during the 19 century, this film tells the story of slave rebellions throughout Cuba's early history as a Spanish colony. A camp of escaped African slaves, known as Cimarrons, hide in the mountain jungles and struggle for land and liberty. While other groups decide to surrender for a promise of amnesty, the camp's leader Gallo senses a trap, and urges his to people fight on.

Memories of Underdevelopment follows Sergio through his life, following the departure of his wife, parents and friends in the wake of the Bay of Pigs fiasco. Alone in a brave new world, Sergio observes the constant threat of foreign invasion, before meeting Elena, a young woman he seeks to mould into the image of his ex-wife, but at what cost to himself?

When his father dies, a Cuban man raised in the United States learns that he was not abandoned by his mother but taken illegally out of Cuba. He returns to Cuba to search for her and is helped by his cousin who is an eccentric taxi driver.

English subtitles
In Havana, a post office branch is more than a place of bureaucratic rules and regulations to ensure effective public services. This is where Carla Perez works. A young dreamer, this government employee transforms boredom into a crossroads of feeling in writing. More than merely sending and receiving letters, she aims to help her companions in finding happiness and love. Such good will cannot go un-rewarded. Her exiled parents in Miami entered her name in the yearly U.S. immigration lottery. Unexpectedly, she receives a notice for her interview to get the 'green card'. Now she will have to opt between a future of her own in Cuba, and a future planned by others in Miami.

Story of a Cuban fisherman who becomes locked in a struggle with a giant marlin in the Gulf Stream. Based on Hemingway's book.

Teresa is a housewife and mother whose involvement in political and cultural groups incurs the displeasure of her husband.

Looks at the curious case of Cuba, a cash-strapped country with what the BBC calls 'one of the world's best health systems.' From the shores of Africa to the Americas, the filmmakers travel with some of the 28,000 Cuban health professionals serving in 68 countries, and interview international medical students in Cuba. Their stories, plus testimony from experts around the world, bring home the competing agendas that mark the battle for global health -- and the complex realities confronting the movement to make health care everyone's birth right.

In 1983, in the rural mountain region of Eastern Cuba, Andrés--a noncompliant gay writer--resides after being blacklisted by the government for having 'ideological problems'. After a major event occurs, the government decides someone reliable must be appointed to watch over him, to make sure he does not get out and make any public political statements. Santa--a country girl who works on a farm--is assigned to the task. For three days in a row, Santa will sit in front of Andrés' hut and keep watch over him. Santa and Andrés are as close as it gets to being true opposites, and are not meant to like each other. However, they soon find that they have more things in common than they expected...

Set amid Cuba's communistic government. Three womens lives cross paths as they cope with the difficulties of life. A peasant named Maria, has lost her daughter. Norma, a TV news broadcaster refuses to announce false news about the government, and Nieves, has recently been laid off from her work at a slaughterhouse.

Four vignettes in Batista's Cuba dramatize the need for revolution; long, mobile shots tell almost wordless stories. In Havana, Maria faces shame when a man who fancies her discovers how she earns her living. Pedro, an aging peasant, is summarily told that the land he farms has been sold to United Fruit. A university student faces down a crowd of swaggering U.S. sailors and then watches friends shot by police when they try to distribute a pro-Castro leaflet. The war arrives on the doorstep of peasants Mariano, Amelia, and their four children when Batista's forces bomb the hills. Mariano wants peace, so he seeks out the guerrillas to join the fight.

This film presents a day in the life of ten people in Havana; a woman who sells peanuts, a hospital employee who becomes a transvestite cabaret dancer, a doctor who works as a clown after work, a railway repairman who plays the sax in an Adventist chapel, and a 10-year-old boy with Downs Syndrome. Without using interviews, dialogue, or narration, the filmmakers allow the images, sounds and music of everyday events in Havana to express the diversity of the social groups which live there.

Cuba's history before the Revolution is chronicled through the story of two brothers, one a revolutionary man of action, the other an unscrupulous politician trying to steer a treacherous middle path between opposing political ideas.

The lovers, Sissy and Sergio, are victims of their parents turbulent past as they become entangled in a love story filled with misfortune and serendipity. Sissy is the rebellious daughter of an ex-Tropicana singer who aspires to perform at the club against her father's wishes. Sergio, her handsome lover, might also be her brother, which is a problem until she discovers photographs of him in the arms of another woman.

The friendship between two children is threatened by their parents' differences. Malú is from an upper-class family and her single mother does not want her to play with Jorgito, as she thinks his background coarse and commonplace. Jorgito's mother is a poor socialist who is proud of her family's social standing, places similar restrictions on her son. What neither woman recognizes is the immense strength of the bond between Malú and Jorgito. When the children learn that Malú's mother is planning to leave Cuba, they decide to travel to the other side of the island to find Malú's father and persuade him against signing the forms that would allow it.

Malin, a Russian literature professor at the University of Havana, is sent to translate between Cuban doctors and children sent from the USSR for medical treatment. Torn from the abstract world of academia and forced into the relentlessly real world of medicine, Malin becomes increasingly depressed. When he meets a child who tells him a story, Malin connects with the kids and finds his way through. Just as he adapts to his new job, the Berlin Wall falls and Cuba enters the deepest economic crisis the island has ever known.

An in-depth examination of the Syncretism religion, an amalgam of Catholic symbolism and Yoruban African piety, as it is practiced in Cuba.

Last Rumba of Papa Montero is a film about the rhythmic dance style known as the Rumba and the legendary rumbero, Papa Montero, who was assassinated during Carnival. Told through beautiful images, sensual music, and exciting dance performances, this story captures the traditions of Cuban life as it guides the main character to his fate.
Sara Gomez : an Afro-Cuban filmmaker is about Afro-Cuban director Sara Gomez. Born in 1943, she studied literature, piano, and Afro-Cuban ethnography before becoming the first female Afro-Cuban filmmaker. She was a revolutionary filmmaker with intersecting concerns about the Afro-Cuban community and the value of its cultural traditions, women's issues, and the treatment of marginalized sectors of society. Through archival footage of her works and interviews with her children and husband Germinal Hernandez, cast members of her best-known film One way or the other, as well as colleagues and friends, we get closer to a filmmaker who invented new landscapes and brought together opposite worlds.

A celebration and study of the influence of Afrocuban culture on contemporary North American music. The program traces the origins of Afro-Cuban music from West Africa to Cuba and the subsequent development of this unique music and dance alongside religion. Interviews and performances by Muñequitos de Matanzas and Chucho Valdés provide insight to the significance of Afro-Cuban music and dance forms from Rhumba to the sacred music of Santería.

Alabbá looks at the history of Santería and how its historic roots have transformed into a contemporary religion in modern-day Cuba. Focus is on three women of African descent who arrived in Cuba in the 19th century, tracing their influence on the development of Santería. The documentary includes interviews with current practitioners and historians.

Aleida Guevara discusses Che Guevara, her father, and their family. She recounts anecdotes from her childhood and describes coming to terms with her father's decision to go to Bolivia as well as her own decision to follow in his footsteps as a doctor and social activist.

Focuses on American military intervention in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Chile, and El Salvador. Discusses the roots of dictatorship, its effects on citizens, movements toward majority rule, and communist influences.

The heartrending yet triumphant account of seven Cuban refugees who risked everything in pursuit of the American Dream. Follows a lively group of rafters, many of whom were detained at the Guantanamo naval base before being allowed onto American soil.

Combines film footage and interviews with Americans and Cubans in exploring this complex episode in history and the long-term effects it has had on our two countries.

Documentary about Cuban band leader Benny More. Nicknamed "El Barbaro del Ritmo," More had a charismatic personality. Though he never received musical training, he was a wonderful singer and composer, and arguably the most well-rounded artist in a country known for its outstanding musicians. This program tells the story of the legendary Cuban musician. From his humble origins as a farmer, to his debut in the Matamoros group, to his sojourn in Mexico; More developed a unique style of singing rumba, boleros, guaracha, mambo and guaguanco.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. travels to Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Brazil, Mexico and Peru to discover the African influence on Latin America. He examines the shared legacy of colonialism and slavery in a region that imported ten times as many slaves as the United States, and kept them in bondage far longer. Gates finds that the influence of people of African descent has had a massive influence on the history and culture of Latin America and the Caribbean, despite sometimes being forgotten or ignored.

In 1996, a group of legendary Cuban musicians were brought together by Ry Cooder to record a CD. This documentary shows some of their songs being recorded in the studio, concert footage from Amsterdam and New York City, and some of the musicians talking about their lives in Cuba and how they got started in music.

This biopic film presents Che Guevara, the young Latin American idealist and revolutionary who fought for the poor and oppressed in the 1950s-60s. The film specifically focuses on Che's fearless life as he helped lead a bloody socialist revolt that would be known around the world.

Spanish with English subtitles
Ernesto Che Guevara was only 39 years old when he was executed in the Bolivian mountains in 1967. Through archival footage and photos this film tells the story of Che's short life: his childhood in Argentina, his early interests in the Spanish Civil War, and the motorcycle trip through Latin America in 1951 with his friend Alberto Granado.

With extensive archival footage and in depth interviews this four part series presents the history of the nuclear arms race over the past 50 years. The beginnings and evolving crisis, 1945-1957: This program examines the origins and early development of the Cold War, the end of World War II, the development of the atomic bomb, the Russian subjugation of Eastern Europe, the Korean Warm the Marshall Plan, developments in the Middle East, and the creation and development of nuclear weapons and strategies. Sputnik, Cuba, Vietnam, 1957-1968: This program covers the launching of Sputnik and its impact on America, the U 2 flights and the capture of Gary Powers, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Berlin Wall, the gradual development of detente, and the origins and early stages of US involvement in the Indo-China conflict. Vietnam, Nixon, Carter, 1968-1979: This program follows the US struggle to reach a consensus concerning American involvement in Vietnam, the efforts of Kissinger and Nixon, the presidency of Carter, and the heightened conflict in Third World countries. Reagan to present, 1979-present: This program presents the failure of the Soviet's in Afghanistan, the peacetime US armaments build up under Reagan, "Star Wars," the reforms of Gorbachev, the collapse of the Soviet bloc and the USSR, 9/11 and other terrorist attacks on America today.

The most celebrated musician of the Cuban son, Compay Segundo became a Cuban music icon during the last few years of the 20th century. Singer, composer and musician extraordinaire, he not only developed a personal style, he also invented his own instrument called the 'armonico' which was custom made to fit his specific needs.

An account of the United States' war with Spain beginning in 1898 which eventually led to U.S. control of Cuba and the Philippines, and later resulted in the independence of those two countries. Using reenactments, interviews with noted authors and historians, and more than a dozen newly arranged popular songs from the period. The film looks at the influence of race, economics, new technologies and the news media on America's decision to go to war. Filmed in Cuba and the Philippines.

Cuba's unspoiled tropical terrain, closed for decades by a U.S. trade embargo, escaped the commercialization of its Caribbean island neighbors. A wave of hotels, asphalt, and pollution may be just ahead, if tourism experts are right. Look inside the long-closed paradise to see what the future holds for Cuba's unusual species of amphibians, reptiles, and fresh water fish.

Cuba: the Accidental Revolution is a two-part documentary series examining Cuba's success in providing for itself in the face of a massive economic crisis, and how its latest revolutions, an agricultural revolution and a revolution in science and medicine, are having repercussions around the world. Sustainable agriculture: Examines Cuba's response to the food crisis created by the collapse of the Soviet Bloc in 1989... As a result Cuba created the largest program in sustainable agriculture ever undertaken. By 1999 Cuba's agricultural production had recovered and in some cases reached historic levels. Health care system: With the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, Cuba lost the foreign exchange needed to pay for expensive drugs and medicines. As a result, much of Cuba's medicine today is based on medicinal plants, available to patients through an extensive network of medical clinics... Cuba's Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Havana is the flagship biosciences lab in the developing world. Cuban scientists are working on an HIV vaccine, a meningitis vaccine, a Hepatitis C vaccine, and other pharmaceuticals... There are 25,000 Cuban doctors serving in 68 poor countries around the world. The Latin American School of Medical Science has 10,000 students from developing countries. They are educated for free with the understanding they will return to their home countries to practice.

Details Cuba's support for African revolutions, with 300,000 Cubans fighting alongside Africans in independence struggles from 1960 onwards. Discussses Che Guevara's military campaign to avenge Lumumba in the Congo and Cuban involvement in Angola and in the fall of Apartheid in South Africa. Features archival footage and eye-witness accounts.

Globe Trekker Ian Wright begins his journey in Havana, Cuba exploring the beaches, bustling street markets and rumba filled back streets. He travels west out of the capital city to the tobacco province of Pinar del Rio, home of Cuba's cigar industry. He then travels to Matanzas Province, the site of the American invasion of the Bay of Pigs and then on to Camaguey, Cuba's cowboy country. Ian ends his visit to Cuba with a climb to the top of the Gran Piedra to take in the view of his next destination, Haiti's capital Port au Prince. After a short visit to Port au Prince Ian heads to Jacmel in time for the annual Carnival, known for its traditional papier maché masks and lively ra ra bands, Next he visits Haiti's holiest city, Souvenance, where he attends a traditional voodoo ceremony. The journey ends at the imposing Citadelle Laferrière, the largest fort in the Western Hemisphere and a UNESCO World Heritage site located just outside of Cap Haitien.

This documentary introduces a talented musical group, the Camerata Romeu, an all-female classical musical ensemble from Havana, Cuba. Led by Zenaida Romeu, their music infuses everything from Cuban folk to Mozart, drawing on the popular rhythms of the island taken from Africa, Spain and Latin America. The video combines performance, interviews, and documentary footage of the musicians' personal lives.

On October 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy informed the world that the Soviet Union was building secret missile bases on the island of Cuba, 90 miles off the shores of Florida. The events of the next 13 days brought the world closer to nuclear disaster than it had ever been before or since. This is the story of the Cuban Missile Crisis, exploring how the earth teetered on the very brink of nuclear holocaust and the fate of the planet lay in the hands of three iconic characters - Nikita Khrushchev, Fidel Castro, and John F Kennedy. As the anniversary of the Crisis approaches, nuclear brinks-manship is still high on the international agenda today and the events of October 1962 hold invaluable lessons for a generation too young to remember just how close we came to the end.

Travel with filmmaker Marlin Darrah as he explores present-day Cuba, from the capital city of Havana to the seaport of Santiago de Cuba. Travel to Pinar del Rio and visit the lush tobacco fields that produce the most sought-after cigars in the world. See sugar plantations and colorful towns, then walk the beaches of Matanzas and Cuba's colorful coastline.

An exploration of Cuban Santería, its African roots, and its diffusion to other countries.

Documentary on "Operacion Peter Pan," during which thousands of Cuban children left Havana for Miami without their parents between 1960-1962.

Host Amy Goodman reads headlines of the day on her political commentary TV program Democracy Now! on February 28, 2005.

In August 1994, more than 33,000 Cubans attempted to escape the island by sea. Two writers, friends since adolescence, are faced with a choice--continue struggling with the hardships of their homeland or brave the open water on a homemade raft. Ernesto Santana chooses Cuba, Jorge Mota chooses the sea. This is the story of their struggles, their successes and the friendship that binds them.

This film documents the life of Mavi Susel, a transsexual who was the first to undergo gender reassignment surgery in Cuba in 1988. Her story and the story of the culture in which she lived is told through documentary footage and dramatic recreations of scenes from her life as a boy.

This documentary, featuring extensive historic footage, tells the story of one of the 20th Century's most controversial, yet charismatic icons, Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, better known as Che Guevara. A true revolutionary who traveled throughout Latin America observing impoverished conditions of the people, stood side-by-side with Fidel Castro in Cuba, and formed revolutions in the Congo and Bolivia (where he was executed).

The film offers a look at Fidel Castro through interviews with Castro himself, historians, public figures and close friends, with footage from the Cuban State archives. Alice Walker, Harry Belafonte, and Sydney Pollack discuss the personality of the man. Former and current US government figures including Arthur Schlesinger, Ramsey Clark, Wayne Smith,Congressman Charles Rangel and a former CIA agent offer political and historical perspectives on Castro and the long-standing US embargo against Cuba. Family members and close friends, including Noel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, offer a window into the personal life of Fidel. We see Fidel swimming with bodyguards, visiting his childhood home and school, joking with Nelson Mandela, Ted Turner and Muhammad Ali, meeting Elian Gonzalez, and celebrating his birthday with members of the Buena Vista Social Club.

Fidel Castro talks about his revolution, his relationship with the people of Cuba, his school years, and the Bay of Pigs incident.

The legendary life of Fidel Castro, from exiled revolutionary to the world's most controversial and longest serving head of state. As seen through the eyes of his wife, mistress and female cohort, this film reveals the untold story of Fidel's rise to become one of the world's most powerful leaders.

Through interviews with relatives, loyalists, and enemies in Cuba and abroad, American Experience constructs an intimate and revealing portrait of the most resilient of leaders.

Through interviews with relatives, loyalists, and enemies in Cuba and abroad, American Experience constructs an intimate and revealing portrait of the most resilient of leaders.

He stood defiantly at the center of some of the worst crises of the Cold War. After over forty years of rule, he remains one of the most controversial politcal figures of all time. Join Biography for a revealing look at the last great Communist leader.

A documentary film about Cuban music, its roots in the Santeria religion and its place in the life and culture of the Cuban people.

Biographical film of the life of Jose Marti, 19th century Cuban author and political activist.

Krudas explores the lives and work of a Cuban lesbian couple who are hip hop singers and performers.The duo Krudas addresses issues such as women's liberation, lesbian rights, female solidarity and racism. Their work is deeply engaged with feminism and strong ties to their African roots.Their songs represent an effort to upset semantics and syntax. Krudas conceive language itself as the root of female exclusion and thus summons men to engage in dialogue refusing to engage in any hierarchical structures. Krudas emphasize on the use of the first person-one will hear the repetition of the first person "yo" (I) often followed by their own names to further personalize their discourse. Krudas' first person extends beyond mere autobiographical narrative; their "I" is an attempt to formulate a double subjectivity, what philosopher Luce Irigaray calls "I-she" ("Je-elle") and "I-he" ("Je-il"). In addition to leading the hip hop duo and the street performance group Tropazancos, Krudas have also organized a network of female hip hop artists, Omega, to unite women in the hip hop and alternative music scenes. Omega's goal is to join forces in order to generate larger projects, including all-female collective performances, recordings, and workshops.

"...a candid, in-depth conversation with one of the most controversial world leaders of our time, Fidel Castro. Stone challenges Castro to explain actions following the execution of three political dissidents who attempted to hijack a ferry to the United States in April 2003. Stone was given unprecedented access, interviewing not only Castro, but prisoners, their wives and dissidents, all of whom express their views forcefully in the emotionally charged environment of Cuba today. Whether or not you accept Castro's world view, Stone's in-depth, tough but fair portrait...helps to illuminate Cuba's unique and complicated place in the world. Is Castro a moral leader defending his small island against a superpower or is he an ironfisted tyrant who tolerates no criticism? Or is the truth somewhere in between?" --Container.

Explores the experiences of eight women who, as girls, helped eradicate Cuban illiteracy within one year. Interweaving recent interviews, archival footage, and campaign photos, this documentary includes one of the first Cubans of her generation to call herself a feminist and one of the first openly proud members of Cuba's LGBT community. All recall negotiating for autonomy and independence in a culture bound by patriarchal structures.

Fidel Castro has ruled Cuba for over five decades, since revolutionary forces toppled the Batista regime in 1959. Officially elected by the Cuban people in 1976, Castro has nevertheless had to survive over 600 assassination attempts. Cuban director Rebeca Chavez uses archival film and audio material to create a collage of important moments in Castro's political and personal life, including hid redefinition of Cuba's role after the collapse of the Communist Bloc.

An examination of the history and practices of Nganga, the Bantu-based belief system of the slaves brought to Cuba from the Congo region of Africa. Nganga is one of the sects in Cuba which are more African than Christian in belief, rituals, music and dance. Some of the differences between the Lucumi (Yoruba/Santeria) and Abakua beliefs are also discussed.

When Cuba lost access to Soviet oil in the early 1900s, the country faced an immediate crisis -- feeding the population -- and an ongoing challenge: how to create a new low-energy society. Cuba transitioned from large, fossil-fuel intensive farming to small, less energy-intensive organic farm and urban gardens, and from a highly industrial society to a more sustainable one.

This documentary attempts to tackle the racial problems in Cuba today, through the voices of researchers, officials, musicians, artists and the general public. It's aimed at serving as an open reflection on the issue and, at the same time, as a social, historical and cultural acknowledgement of the role of black people in the formation and consolidation of Cuban identity.

A trio of British Muslims vacationing in Afghanistan shortly after 9/11 are captured by the American military and sent to the Guantánamo Bay detainment camp. For the next two years, they are imprisoned without any charges officially being filed. They are tortured and interrogated relentlessly, in hopes of getting them to "confess" their nonexistent link to Al-Qaida. A fictionalized account of the actual experiences of "The Tipton Three," incorporating interviews, news footage and extensive reenactments by professional actors.

Katrina Browne makes a troubling discovery-- her New England ancestors were the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. She and nine fellow descendants set off to retrace the Triangle Trade: from their old hometown in Rhode Island to slave forts in Ghana to sugar plantation ruins in Cuba. Step by step, they uncover the vast extent of Northern complicity in slavery while also navigating their way through the minefield of contemporary race relations.

A documentary on the practice of Santeria in Havana, Cuba, and its roots in Yoruba cultural and religious heritage. Records a religious ceremony that features dancing, singing, and drum beating invoking the Orishas, and also separate dances representing the interaction of the Orishas.

Filmmaker Michael Rubbo travels to Cuba with the former premier of Newfoundland and a Canadian broadcaster in an attempt to meet Castro and make a documentary about him; the film chronicles Rubbo's travels throughout Cuba while Castro remains just out of reach.