Santiago Álvarez
Santiago Álvarez Román (March 8, 1919 – May 20, 1998) was a Cuban documentary filmmaker and a central figure in revolutionary Latin American cinema. After studying in the United States, he returned to Cuba in the mid-1940s, where he worked as a music archivist for television and became active in Communist Party circles. Following the Cuban Revolution, he was a founding member of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC) and went on to direct its influential weekly Latin American Newsreel, shaping a new model of politically engaged documentary production.
Álvarez became internationally known for short films that combined found footage, photographs, animation, and music through rapid, associative editing—often described as “nervous montage.” His best-known works include Now! (1964), addressing racial discrimination in the United States; LBJ (1968), a satirical critique of U.S. imperialism; and 79 Springs (1969), a poetic tribute to Ho Chi Minh. In 1968, he collaborated with Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino on The Hour of the Furnaces, a landmark four-hour documentary on neocolonialism and political struggle in Latin America.
Across dozens of films, Álvarez documented music, culture, revolutionary movements, and authoritarian regimes throughout the Americas and beyond. His work influenced generations of political filmmakers, and he was later acknowledged by Jean-Luc Godard in Histoire(s) du cinéma. Álvarez died in Havana in 1998 from Parkinson’s disease and was buried in Colón Cemetery.
Fotos
Filme (58)
Éter
2019 · Sound
El camino de Santiago: Periodismo, cine y revolución
2013 · Santiago Alvarez
Memória Cubana
2010 · Self (archive footage)
Rocha Que Voa
2002 · Self (voice)
Accelerated Under-Development: In the Idiom of Santiago Alvarez
1999 · Himself
Historia de una Plaza
1989 · Director, Writer
Brascuba
1987 · Director, Writer
Coarse Salt
1984 · Horacio
Claves, 4: Memories of Cuban cinema
1984 · Self
Biografía de un carnaval
1983 · Director, Writer
La marcha del pueblo combatiente
1980 · Director
The Necessary War
1980 · Director
My Brother, Fidel
1977 · Director, Writer
El octubre de todos
1977 · Writer, Director
To Die for Your Country Is to Live Forever
1976 · Director
Luanda ya no es de San Pablo
1976 · Writer, Director
Maputo meridiano novo
1976 · Director, Writer
April in Vietnam in the Year of the Cat
1975 · Director
The First Delegate
1975 · Director, Writer
[Opening speech for the retrospective “Cuban Documentary Film”] [excerpt]
1974 · Director
El milagro de la tierra morena
1974 · Director
The Four Bridges
1974 · Director
The New Tango
1973 · Writer, Director
La hora de los cerdos
1973 · Director
The Tiger Leaps and Kills, But It Will Die... It Will Die...
1973 · Director, Writer
And Heaven Was Taken by Storm
1973 · Director, Screenplay
I Am a Son of America
1972 · Director
Che
1972 · Director
The Stampede
1971 · Director
El Drama de Nixon
1971 · Director
¿Cómo, por qué y para qué se asesina un general?
1971 · Director
Entrevista al presidente Salvador Allende (Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano)
1970 · Director
Piedra sobre piedra
1970 · Director
The Servant's Dream
1970 · Director, Screenplay
79 Springs
1969 · Director, Writer
Take-Off at 18:00 Hours
1969 · Writer, Director
Hanoi, Tuesday 13th
1969 · Director, Writer
Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano No. 466: Celebration of the VI Amateur World Series in the Dominican Republic. Cuba-USA Final.
1969 · Director
Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano, No. 422
1968 · Director
LBJ
1968 · Director
Hasta la Victoria Siempre
1967 · Director
The Forgotten War
1967 · Director, Screenplay
Cerro Pelado
1966 · Director
Año 7 (Noticiero No. 290)
1966 · Director
Abril de Girón
1966 · Director, Writer
Primeros Juegos Deportivos Nacionales en Cuba (Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano)
1965 · Director
Now!
1965 · Director
Solidaridad Cuba y Vietnam
1965 · Writer, Director
Cyclone
1964 · Director
Valentina Tereshkova visita a Cuba (Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano)
1963 · Director
Muerte al invasor
1962 · Editor, Director
Crisis en el Caribe (Noticiero ICAIC)
1962 · Writer, Director, Producer
Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano
1960 · Director, Script
Carnival
1960 · Production Manager
El Tomate
1959 · Producer
Towards Unity and Victory
1937
Los Ojos de Santiago
Los Refugiados de la Cueva del Muerto
· Director
Serien (0)
Keine Filmografie verfügbar.