A film-poem about the beginning and birth of Cuban revolution.

Started only a week after the Cuban missile crisis and designed to be Cuba's answer to both Sergei Eisenstein's propaganda masterpiece, Potemkin, and Jean-Luc Godard's freewheeling romance, Breathless (A bout de souffle), I Am Cuba (SOY CUBA) turned out to be something quite unique. The plot, or rather plots, expansively explores the seductive, decadent (and marvelously photogenic) world of Batista's Cuba - juxtaposing images of extremes with seamless beauty. I Am Cuba (SOY CUBA) has recently been reified by Hollywood's great directors, many years after it languished in obscurity, following its initial popularity and acclaim post-release.


Started only a week after the Cuban missile crisis and designed to be Cuba's answer to both Sergei Eisenstein's propaganda masterpiece, Potemkin and Jean-Luc Godard's freewheeling romance, Breathless, I Am Cuba (SOY CUBA) turned out to be something quite unique - a wildly schizophrenic celebration of Communist kitsch, mixing Slavic solemnity with Latin sensuality. The plot, or rather plots, feverishly explore the seductive, decadent (and marvelously photogenic) world of Batista's Cuba - deliriously juxtaposing images of rich Americans and bikini-clad beauties sipping cocktails poolside with scenes of ramshackle slums filled with hungry children and gaunt old people. Using wide-angle lenses that distort and magnify and filters that transform palm trees into giant white feathers, Urusevsky's acrobatic camera achieves wild gravity-defying angles as it glides effortlessly through long continuous shots. But I Am Cuba (SOY CUBA) is not just a catalog of bravura technique - it also succeeds in exploring the innermost feelings of the characters and their often desperate situations.
Shown unsubtitled at the San Francisco International Film Festival, I Am Cuba (SOY CUBA) received two standing ovations - during the screening. The first movie ever jointly presented by master filmmakers Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, I Am Cuba (SOY CUBA) is one of the great discoveries in cinema. It will change your view of cinema forever!

Mikhail Kalatozov, 1964, Soviet Union (USSR)/Cuba, 141 minutes. Black & White, 35mm and 16mm

In Spanish & Russian with English Subtitles

Director: Mikhail Kalatozov

Screenwriters: Evgeny Evtushenko, Enrike Barnet

Camera: Sergey Urusevsky

Composer: Karlos Farinyas

Artist-producer: Evgeny Svidetelev


Cast
Serkhio Korrieri, Salvador Vud, Khose Galyardo, Raul Garsia



Year: 1964



On Mosfilm:
www.mosfilm.ru/Page.aspx?id=74cb2a38-658b-4ef0-bdfb-bee87ea3a987&movieid=2d94f084-0ce5-4331-aa98-49bc2955c67c&lang=en

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Кинопоэма о том, как зрела и рождалась революция на Кубе.

1964
Михаил Калатозов

Режиссер
Михаил Калатозов

Автор сценария
Евгений Евтушенко, Энрике Барнет

Оператор
Сергей Урусевский

Композитор
Карлос Фариньяс

Художник-постановщик
Евгений Свидетелев


В ролях
Серхио Корриери, Сальвадор Вуд, Хосе Гальярдо, Рауль Гарсиа

Год
1964

www.mosfilm.ru/Page.aspx?id=74cb2a38-658b-4ef0-bdfb-bee87ea3a987&movieid=2d94f084-0ce5-4331-aa98-49bc2955c67c&lang=ru