Los cien caminos del cine cubano: 112 significant Cuban films
In their book "Los cien caminos del cine cubano" published by ICAIC, the Cuban film institute, Marta Diaz and Joel del Rio highlight 112 Cuban films that demonstrate the depth, breadth and quality of Cuban cinema, from the silent era to the present.
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112 titles
- DirectorEnrique Díaz Quesada
- DirectorRamón PeónStarsMiguel SantosDiana MardeMatilde MaunYoung man who had lost his father falls in love with the local Chieftain's daughter, who opposes the romance. Only a miracle can save the couple's love affair and Our Lady of Charity intervenes in the name of justice.
- DirectorRamón PeónStarsLuana AlcañizAlicia RicoJuan TorenaA country girl working in the tobacco fields, is seduced by a city man and elopes with him to Havana. In the big city, she discovers that the man is a womanizer that has been playing with her feelings. Unable to go back to her family out of shame, she finds work singing in a night club. However, the man who dishonored her, has more evil intentions on the way.
- DirectorManolo AlonsoStarsJuan José Martínez CasadoAlejandro LugoRaquel RevueltaOn New Year's Eve, a banker and his wife invite several friends to have dinner in their apartment. Suddenly, an astrologer makes an appearance and predicts seven of the present people will die in the next weeks.
- DirectorManolo AlonsoManuel AlonsoStarsPaco AlfonsoXonia BenguríaAgustín CamposA young woman from the country has a son from a young man of a rich family. The rich grandfather of the man, owner of the farm, takes the child away to educate him. A few years later the young woman marries a poor farmer. She rejects the child she has with him and only understands she loves him when the rival brothers fight against each other in a duel.
- DirectorJulio García Espinosa
- DirectorSantiago Álvarez
- DirectorJulio García EspinosaStarsBlas MoraWember BrosJosé Yedra
- DirectorManuel Octavio Gómez
- DirectorJosé MassipStarsLuis Carbonell
- DirectorNicolás Guillén Landrián
- DirectorSantiago ÁlvarezStarsFidel Castro
- DirectorEduardo ManetStarsRené de la CruzOfelia GonzálezMiñuca NaredoA doctor committed against the revolution decides to escape in a boat. A criminal friend introduced him to a modest revolutionary family to cover it up. During the events aspects of a society in transition are reflected.
- DirectorRogelio ParisA rare panorama of Cuban music and dance from the 1960s. Featuring legendary Cuban musicians as well as vibrant spontaneous performances, We Are the Music captures the mood and vitality of Havana during its golden period.
- DirectorNicolás Guillén Landrián
- DirectorFausto CanelStarsSergio CorrieriRaúl EgurenYolanda Farr
- DirectorMiriam TalaveraOscar Valdés
- DirectorSantiago ÁlvarezStarsLena HorneA documentary short about racism in the United States.
- DirectorHumberto SolásStarsAdela LegráAdolfo LlauradóOlga GonzálezDuring the last days of the struggle against dictator Fulgencio Batista, a young peasant woman joins the guerrilla in the Sierra Maestra.
- DirectorTomás Gutiérrez AleaStarsSalvador WoodSilvia PlanasManuel EstanilloA young man attempts to fight the system in an entertaining account of bureaucracy amok and the tyranny of red tape.
- DirectorSantiago ÁlvarezA short film which documents the lives of the people of Hanoi which took place on March 13.
- DirectorJulio García EspinosaStarsJulito MartinezErdwin FernándezAdelaida RaymatThe metamorphoses of Juan Quin Quin, in turns bullfighter, guerrilla fighter and sacristan.
- DirectorEnrique Pineda Barnet
- DirectorOctavio CortázarA traveling film projectionist brings the film Modern Times (1936) to a secluded village that has never seen a motion picture before.
- DirectorHumberto SolásStarsRaquel RevueltaEslinda NúñezAdela LegráTraces episodes in the lives of three Cuban women, each named Lucía, from three different historical periods: the Cuban war of independence (with Spain), the 1930s, and the 1960s.
- DirectorNicolás Guillén Landrián'Coffea arábiga' was sponsored as a propaganda documentary to show how to sow coffee around Havana. In fact, Guillén Landrián made a film critical of Castro, exhibited but banned as soon as the coffee plan collapsed.
- DirectorOscar ValdésStarsMarta CartallaHumberto MolinaEdwin Moore
- DirectorTomás Gutiérrez AleaStarsSergio CorrieriDaisy GranadosEslinda NúñezA Cuban man cycles through his opinions and memories as the threat of foreign invasion intensifies and the rest of his family moves to Miami.
- DirectorSantiago ÁlvarezStarsLyndon B. JohnsonA montage of 1960s America, all focused on the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson.
- DirectorManuel Octavio GómezStarsAdolfo LlauradóJosé RodríguezIdalia AnreusBoth Spanish soldiers and Cuban peasants recall the bloody attack by machete-slicing Cubans in the late 19th century. The officers discuss the attack and the implications their defeat will have as they dread the review from Madrid. Soon Cuba would break away from Spain, largely with the help of William Randolph Hearst who helped to facilitate the Spanish-American War. The film also goes over the history, use and care of the machete, which came out of the sugar cane fields to become a deadly weapon of hand-to-hand combat.
- DirectorSantiago ÁlvarezAn agit-prop documentary marking the death of Vietnamese nationalist leader Ho Chí Minh, using found footage to link his work to worldwide political movements including the Cuban revolution and resistance within the USA to the Vietnam war.
- DirectorManuel Octavio GómezStarsIdalia AnreusRaúl PomaresAdolfo LlauradóBased on actual events that occurred in 1936 in Pinar Del Río, a province in Cuba; it tells the story of Antoñica Izquierdo, a peasant who attributed healing powers through water.
- DirectorOscar Valdés
- DirectorTomás Gutiérrez AleaStarsJosé Antonio RodríguezRaúl PomaresSilvano ReyIn 1672 Cuban revolutionaries launch an uprising against the Spanish who are occupying the country.
- DirectorPastor Vega
- DirectorManuel Herrera
- DirectorManuel Octavio GómezStarsIdalia AnreusMario BalmasedaMiguel BenavidesA reconstruction, in the style of Socialist Realism, of an actual case from 1969 in which 4 men were accused of sabotaging economic planning and bringing about 8 deaths and much material loss, by starting a forest fire.
- DirectorSara GómezStarsMario BalmasedaYolanda CuéllarMario LimontaIn Miraflores, Cuba, the growing romance between Mario, a factory worker, and Yolanda, a schoolteacher, throws into relief the differences in their perspectives and values in Revolutionary Cuba.
- DirectorSergio GiralStarsMiguel BenavidesAlina SánchezRamón VelozBased on the novel Francisco by Anselmo Suárez y Romero, "The Other Francisco" is a socio-economic analysis of slavery and class struggle through the retelling of the original novel. The film contrasts the romantic conceptions of plantation life found in Suárez Romero's novel with a realistic expose of the actual historical conditions of slavery 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.
- DirectorTomás Gutiérrez AleaStarsNelson VillagraSilvano ReyLuis Alberto GarcíaA pious plantation owner attempts to teach Christianity to 12 of his slaves by inviting them to participate in a reenactment of the Last Supper.
- DirectorOctavio CortázarStarsPatricio WoodSalvador WoodRené de la CruzIn the early years of the Cuban revolution, a young Havana student volunteers to go to a poor rural region to teach peasants how to read and write; he's sent to the Ciénega de Zapata zone, where squads of anti-Castro guerrilla operate; he happens to teach the wife of a squad leader; trouble and confrontation ensues when government militia makes the little town its operations base.
- DirectorTomás Gutiérrez AleaStarsEnrique SantistebanJuanita CaldevillaGermán PinelliAn aristocratic family decides to isolate themselves from the changes brought by the revolution and begin living History in reverse. A surreal voyage from Socialism to cannibalism.
- DirectorPastor VegaStarsIdalia AnreusMiguel BenavidesSamuel ClaxtonTeresa is overwhelmed: with a husband, three young sons, a job as a crew leader in a textile factory, and volunteer commitments as cultural leader of her union. Her husband, Ramón, wants more of her attention; her feelings are mixed, wanting domestic peace, feeling responsibilities to the revolution, and wanting to control her own life beyond doing dirty dishes. They separate; he begins an affair. When he wants a reconciliation, she asks what his response would be if she'd had an affair too. "But men are different," is his reply. He's failed her test, and to hold on to independence and self-respect, she remains uncompromising and hard-edged.
- DirectorHumberto Solás
- DirectorJuan PadrónElpidio Valdés (ICAIC, 1979). It tells the birth of Elpidio, the death of his father and the beginnings of the War of Independence; as he knows María Silvia and how he becomes a scourge for the Spanish army, the counter-guerrilla and the American landowners. It develops almost totally in 1895.
- DirectorLuis Felipe Bernaza
- DirectorOrlando RojasStarsHarry BelafonteLetta MbuluBiography of singer and actor Harry Belafonte.
- DirectorHumberto SolásStarsDaisy GranadosImanol AriasMiguel BenavidesCecilia, a Cuban girl of mixed race in violent 19th-century Cuba, is raised by her mother and grandmother as a courtesan. Soon, pale-skinned Cecilia catches the eye of the estate owner's son, Leonardo. Cecilia bows to Leonardo's demands provided he agrees to shelter a wounded member of the resistance movement at his home. Leonardo's wealthy father, Cándido de Gamboa, arranges the engagement of his son to a white girl of their own class. Cecilia tries to stop the wedding with tragic results.
- DirectorMiguel Torres
- DirectorTomás Gutiérrez AleaStarsÓscar ÁlvarezMirta IbarraOmar ValdésA theater director and script-writer falls for a female worker from the Havana docks, but his machismo, social and working conflicts, and the Cuban woman's condition interfere with their relationship.
- DirectorRosario SuárezMarisol TrujilloStarsRosario Suárez
- DirectorJuan Carlos TabíoStarsMario BalmasedaRini CruzRosita FornésGloria, Yolanda's mother, exchanges their old house in Guanabacoa for a modern apartment in Vedado to keep Yolanda away from her boyfriend, but her plans soon backfire.
- DirectorRolando DíazStarsReynaldo MiravallesConsuelo VidalSilvia PlanasA young couple find out that their parents (her father end his mother) are having a romance. All the problems begin here because the young couple can't accept this relationship.
- DirectorEnrique ColinaAesthetics provides a humorous glimpse into Cubans' sense of style. Enrique Colina reveals the desire for expressing individuality through diverse conceptions of beauty in everyday life whether in the form of a hood ornament, a display window, or a star-studded tooth.
- DirectorOrlando RojasStarsJorge Luis ÁlvarezMaría Isabel Díaz LagoFrancisco GattornoA shy country boy gets caught between the peer pressure of his buddies and his love for an overweight, strong willed but likable girl.
- DirectorEnrique Colina
- DirectorJesús DíazStarsVerónica LynnJorge TrinchetIsabel SantosThe life of a Cuban worker is confronted when his mother, who flew to Miami abandoning him when he was an adolescent, announces her arrival and intention to stay with him, in her old apartment in La Habana.
- DirectorMayra Vilasis
- DirectorJuan PadrónStarsFrank GonzálezManuel MarínIrela BravoA vampire family from Cuba is preparing for a showdown between the USA vampires and the Eastern European vampires. But with the aid of a scientist, they need a type of vaccination where they can live in daylight.
- DirectorHumberto SolásStarsCésar ÉvoraRaquel RevueltaDaisy GranadosJavier Argüelles, an opportunistic young man from Cuban middle class, survives all kind of political changes in Havana, from 1932 to 1959, while his brother Darío is persecuted and killed because of his leftist ideas.
- DirectorGerardo Chijona
- DirectorGerardo Chijona
- DirectorFernando PérezStarsLuis Alberto GarcíaIsabel SantosRené LosadaBefore the military coup in Cuba, a group of people have a clandestine printing press, used to print subversive pamphlets against the government.
- DirectorEnrique Colina
- DirectorJuan Carlos TabíoStarsDaisy GranadosThais ValdésRaúl PomaresA superstitious middle-aged woman falls in love with a taxi driver, while trying to learn the identity of the unseen person tossing eggs at her.
- DirectorEnrique Pineda BarnetStarsBeatriz ValdésOmar ValdésCésar ÉvoraStory shows the genesis of the career and the rise of Esther the most beloved actress of most popular theater in Havana at the turn of the 19th century.
- DirectorOrlando RojasStarsLuisa Pérez-NietoErnesto TapiaRosita FornésAn aging actress gets trapped in the generational conflicts and political scheming of a well-known but decaying theater company and loses her career and the hope of ever loving again. Selected one of the 100 Best Latin American Films of All Times (#29), Poll of Latin American Critics (1996). Cuban entry as Best Foreign Film for Oscars, 1990. Chosen as Best Cuban Film of the decade of 1980's by National Critics Association,
- DirectorJorge Luis Sánchez
- DirectorJuan Carlos Cremata MalbertiStarsPaula AliElier GonzálezSandra IbarraIn a Havana public office, the charwoman discovers the sexual activities among the workers.
- DirectorDaniel Díaz TorresStarsThais ValdésVanessa CarballidoCarlos CruzA satire about the life of the Cuban people. Alicia, a culture instructor, is sent to a small town "Maravillas", which is itself an exaggerated, but very ingenious reflection of the real Cuba. The adventures that she has there are almost as crazy and senseless as the ones lived by the other Alice (in Wonderland), reflecting the indoctrination, coercion, absolutims, and many other everyday problems in Cuban society.
- DirectorOrlando RojasMario CrespoAna RodríguezStarsLeonardo ArmasLeonor ArochaOrlando FundichelyFive different women struggle for identity and self-esteem in their love relationships. A bittersweet image of Cuban reality.
- DirectorSergio GiralStarsAlina RodríguezAlexis ValdésRoberto PerdomoThe plot is situated in Cuba during the early '50s, before the cuban revolution. A prostitute gets in love with a boxer to whom she devotes her life. As the boxer progresses in his career, he gets money and women. The prostitute tries everything to keep him meanwhile her tortured soul sinks deeper and deeper.
- DirectorFernando PérezStarsLaura De la UzRaúl PazHerminia SánchezA young girl's academic asperation conflict with her family's struggle against poverty. Both these aspects are made all the more potent by the clear view they have of Ernest Hemingway's mansion in their home town just outside Havana.
- DirectorGerardo ChijonaStarsIsabel SantosLuis Alberto GarcíaMirta IbarraIn Havana, young people dream of cinema.
- StarsFrançois DunoyerJacqueline ArenalRustam UrazaevFollows the story of three privileged Creole orphans from Havana, as they meet French adventurer Victor Hugues and get involved in the revolutionary turmoil that shook the Atlantic World at the end of the eighteenth century.
- DirectorTomás Gutiérrez AleaJuan Carlos TabíoStarsJorge PerugorríaVladimir CruzMirta IbarraStory of two men who are opposites: one gay, the other straight; one a fierce communist, the other a fierce individualist; one suspicious, the other accepting; and how they come to love each other.
- DirectorFernando PérezStarsElena BolañosZaida CastellanosLaura De la UzLaura is a professor at a shabby, stultifying college. Her daughter, Laurita, stops going to school, wishes to move to Madagascar and quickly races through several phases. One day, she looks like a heavy-metal fan, another like a bohemian who weeps at poetry and art. Slowly, she crosses the line from ordinary adolescent confusion to intense neurosis and beyond, finally becoming so obsessed with religion and good works that she brings 10 homeless children into the cramped house she shares with her mother and grandmother.
- DirectorJulio García EspinosaStarsConsuelo VidalCoralia VelozRogelio BlainReina is an old and lonely widow whose only companion is a little black dog called Rey. When the dog disappears, Reina begins to question her own existence. Suddenly, her old patrons (who had left Cuba twenty years ago) return from Miami to stay for a week and convince her to leave Cuba and work for them again as a maid. As secrets of their past lives are revealed, Reina has to decide if she leaves or if she stays in Cuba.
- DirectorEnrique ÁlvarezStarsKendra CasalsXenia CruzIgor Urquiza
- DirectorTomás Gutiérrez AleaJuan Carlos TabíoStarsCarlos CruzMirta IbarraJorge PerugorríaIt is a satire about life in Cuba. The members of a funeral procession and some truck drivers who need to take the same route begin to talk about God and the world and they end up discovering that life for both groups has many similarities and many differences, depending on the point of view.
- DirectorRigoberto LópezStarsRubén BladesWillie ColónCelia Cruz
- DirectorArturo Sotto DíazStarsJorge PerugorríaSílvia ÁguilaSusana PérezThe architecture student Estela (Silvia Aguila) makes a suicide attempt after her plans for solving Havana's housing shortage are rejected. This brings her into contact with earthy, cynical hospital nurse Ernesto (Jorge Perugorria). Estela invites him home for dinner, and he succeeds in offending everyone present. Unable to find a quiet spot to be alone, they finally find a squatters' tenement, where their sexual frenzy causes a ceiling to collapse. They next try vertical love in a stalled elevator, trapping people in the modern building minus stairs. Fleeing responsibilities, they stage a romantic rendezvous alongside a country river, but once again they are interrupted as Cuban commissars arrive with papers and forms because the couple constructs a hut beneath a bridge. Amid the misadventures, lust turns to love
- DirectorFernando PérezStarsLuis Alberto GarcíaCoralia VelozClaudia RojasThree characters in present-day Havana must choose between clinging to their self-restricting beliefs, or getting rid of them to live more freely. Ballerina Mariana has promised God celibacy if she gets the role of "Giselle"; Social-worker Julia always faints after hearing a certain word; and pot-smoking percussionist Elpidio was abandoned by his mother, coincidentally named Cuba, some time ago and has not yet gotten over the loss.
- DirectorJuan Carlos TabíoStarsVladimir CruzTahimi AlvariñoJorge PerugorríaA desperate group of people wait at a rundown Cuban transit station for the next bus to arrive. The problem is, it never shows up. While a number of busses pass by the station, and others that are either full or at the end of the line stop by, it soon becomes obvious that the bus everyone was waiting for has left them high and dry. While one of the would-be passengers, Emilio, uses his downtime to win the affections of the beautiful Jacqueline, most of the rest decide that if they're stuck without anywhere to go, they might as well make the station a better place to wait, and they begin forming a plan to turn the decrepit bus terminal into a showplace that people would look forward to visiting.
- DirectorRebeca ChávezStarsAmalia AguilarLuis CarbonellAntonia FernandezA profile of legendary Cuban singer and actress Rita Montaner.
- DirectorJuan Carlos Cremata Malberti
- DirectorJuan Carlos Cremata MalbertiStarsThais ValdésNacho LugoDaisy GranadosIn 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 can not 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.
- DirectorHumberto PadrónStarsElsa CampVerónica LynnEnrique MolinaIt has been four years since Raulito had to go into exile in Miami. He lives abroad and the family decides to send him a video letter for his birthday.
- DirectorEsteban Insausti
- DirectorFernando PérezStarsFrancisquito CardetFrancisco CardetNorma PérezDawn breaks in La Habana, and as the day advances we follow the simple lives of ten ordinary Cubans, with only sounds and images accompanied by music.