Santiago Álvarez
Personal Info
Known for
Directing
Gender
Male
Birthday
1919-03-18
Day of Death
1998-05-20 (79 years old)
Place of Birth
Havana, Cuba
Santiago Álvarez
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.[1] After the Cuban Revolution he became a founding member of the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC) and directed its weekly Latin American Newsreel.[2]
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.[3]
He died of Parkinson's disease in Havana on May 20, 1998 and was buried there in the Colon Cemetery.
Acting
El camino de Santiago: Periodismo, cine y revolución
as Santiago Alvarez
(2010)
Memória Cubana
as Self (archive footage)
(2002)
Rocha Que Voa
as Self (voice)
(1999)
(1984)
Coarse Salt
as Horacio
(1937)
Crew
(2019)
Éter
Sound
(1989)
Historia de una Plaza
Director, Writer
(1987)
Brascuba
Director, Writer
(1983)
Biografía de un carnaval
Director, Writer
(1980)
The Necessary War
Director
(1977)
My Brother, Fidel
Director, Writer
(1977)
El octubre de todos
Writer, Director
(1976)
Morir por la patria es vivir
Director
(1976)
Luanda ya no es de San Pablo
Writer, Director
(1976)
Maputo meridiano novo
Director, Writer
(1975)
The First Delegate
Director, Writer
(1975)
(1974)
The Four Bridges
Director
(1974)
(1974)
El milagro de la tierra morena
Director
(1973)
The Tiger Leaps and Kills, But It Will Die... It Will Die...
Director, Writer
(1973)
The New Tango
Writer, Director
(1973)
La hora de los cerdos
Director
(1973)
And Heaven Was Taken by Storm
Director
(1972)
I Am a Son of America
Director
(1971)
(1971)
The Stampede
Director
(1970)
The Servant's Dream
Director, Screenplay
(1970)
Piedra sobre piedra
Director
(1969)
Hanoi, Tuesday 13th
Director, Writer
(1969)
79 Springs
Director, Writer
(1969)
(1969)
Take-Off at 18:00 Hours
Writer, Director
(1968)
LBJ
Director
(1968)
(1967)
The Forgotten War
Director
(1967)
Hasta la Victoria Siempre
Director
(1966)
Cerro Pelado
Director
(1966)
Año 7 (Noticiero No. 290)
Director
(1966)
Abril de Girón
Director, Writer
(1965)
Now!
Director
(1965)
Solidaridad Cuba y Vietnam
Writer, Director
(1964)
Cyclone
Director
(1962)
Muerte al invasor
Editor, Director
(1962)
Crisis en el Caribe
Writer, Director, Producer
(1960)
Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano
Director, Script
(1960)
Carnival
Production Manager
(1959)
El Tomate
Producer